After One Week

John and I decided to have dinner right when the kids get home from school. We had three reasons for trying this out.

1. That is when the kids are the hungriest.
2. We are spending way too much money on snacks that are just not healthy because they want to eat a ton after school.
3. They almost never eat their dinner because they over-snack.
   

We have done this for one week and here are the results.

1. The kids are eating their dinner with a lot fewer complaints.
2. I have way more time in the evening to do whatever I want.
3. We aren't going through snacks as fast, and snack time is around 7:30 and much more controlled.
4. I do not get to nap from 2-4, but I like the time in the evening better anyway, at least that is what I think after one week.
5. Because we have a big dinner at 4:30 and an all together at the table snack at 7:30 I have to do dishes twice.

So far, I think it is a better schedule. I have been worried about my kids consuming too much junk food, and I am too soft when it comes to sugar snacks. This is helping us eat healthier, because the kids are not as hungry later. The funny thing is, I told my friend, Naomi about this and she apparently had started the same thing with her family at the same time and has all of the same things to say about it. She also has six kids basically the same ages as all my kids.

Just a Hard Day

Today was a very long, hard day. I do not want to go into serious details, but it all went awry about 9:30 this morning when I asked the kids to help get ready for our 10:45 house showing. Then it just seemed to get worse from there. I tried to make things feel better by getting some junk food. (That didn't help, but since I have forgotten that tomorrow is Easter, I am really glad to have cake and ice cream in the house. The Easter egg hunt will have to be next week. But that is okay, because we often do it a week late so we can buy more stuff for half the price. ) Well the kids being very difficult this morning just set off some negative pregnancy hormones in me because everything bothered me from that point on. Little things that I usually take casually really bothered me. I nearly cried when John stepped on and broke a sprinkler head. (They are actually not that much money.)

Then the kids fought for about an hour and a half straight in the afternoon and then I just lost it. I put the kids to work and I told them that they were grounded from playing because they couldn't do so without fighting. After we worked for a couple of hours things calmed down for a bit and we had dinner. Then I decided to do another house repair. I filled in a hole in the fire place. I thought that it would be easy, but apparently it meant starting a fire. So then the kids went outside to get sticks and tracked mud all over the living room carpet. Anya and Rachel would not leave the fire place alone and got soot all over their freshly bathed hands and faces. Then Adam, Johnny, and Ruth would not come in for scriptures. So I really did lose it again. Eventually, I got them all into bed. I decided to hang a new blind up in my bedroom. Not too long after I had started I realized that I had not given Anya her antibiotic. I decided to go ahead and give it to her. When I went into her room Rachel said, "I pooped my pants." Indeed she had, and had even begun to play with it. This time, I decided I was absolutely going to behave myself. I very kindly and with a soft voice cleaned her up and put her back to bed. After that I spent about an hour screwing in six screws to get the blind up. Now I am done, and I am so glad that today is over and I do not have to live this day ever again. I think that all of my kids feel the same way. I feel bad because I know that I yelled too much and definitely over punished. But the day is done and we do have tomorrow to try again.

It's hard to Believe

I read this on CNN this morning. I know there has been a lot of moral decay, but it seems as if it is exponential decay. It is alarming. And this very fact, I believe will even speed up moral decay.

"Nearly 40 percent of babies born in the United States in 2007 were delivered by unwed mothers, according to data released last month by the National Center for Health Statistics. The 1.7 million out-of-wedlock births, of 4.3 million total births, marked a more than 25 percent jump from five years before."

When Ruth was a baby, I remember being struck by how important it seemed for Ruth to have both her parents. Even though John was finishing his PhD and I did everything for Ruth myself. John never fed her or changed her diapers and he only played with her on Saturdays. But just having John there made me a better, well balanced mother for little Ruth. Now that my kids are older, and seeing how important their dad is to them, I know more than ever that I could not provide everything they need. I do not know or understand why this is the case, but I do know that I am very blessed to have a husband who is a good father and a righteous man for my sons and daughters to look up to and in a way see the character of their Heavenly Father.

We Made It!!!

RACHEL IS 3!!! We made it through the terrible two's, and she is not throwing temper tantrums so much any more. She talks a lot and plays with her toys and is an enjoyable little girl once again.

We had a Princess Everything Birthday Party with just the family for Rachel. I bought the Princess plates and cups and all. Rachel chose hotdogs, chips, and grapes for her dinner which she did not eat.

We opened presents after dinner. Ruth, Kate, and Johnny bought Rachel a TinkerBell costume. She is absolutely delighted with that. She would not take it off to go to bed. She wore it straight until she spilt hot cocoa on it some time the next day.

John and I bought her this Snow White doll (Barbie size). But we are not getting into to Barbies. John also got her a giant Princess Aurora coloring book. My parents bought her a Snow White Polly Pocket, and a my mother made her a satin Princess quilt.

Rachel is still saying Thank you in her prayers for her birthday.

We had cake and ice cream last. Because we did a lot of grocery shopping, and because we had 2 showings on Rachel's birthday we bought her this lovely cake from Target. She is lucky to have her birthday near Easter when the cakes are prettier than usual. The cake was fine, but the frosting is nasty. Needless to say we still have birthday cake hanging around after 3 days.

So Congratulations, Rachel. We are glad that you are in our family, and have become such a sweet little princess.

A Very Important Rule

If I get up early to get some chores done, so that I can have more time with my kids during the day, then the kids are NOT allowed to get up early with me and make it harder for me to get the chores done.

Ahead

Johnny was born in September and missed the school cut-off date by three weeks. He was one of those kids that was ready to go in early, but couldn't. So Kindergarten and first grade have been very easy for him. This last week I thought that maybe Johnny's spelling words might be challenging for him, so I thought I had better practice them with him. On Tuesday, I told him to get a pen and paper and gave him his first word. Before I even had a chance to give him his second word he handed me the paper with all of his words written correctly and apparently memorized from whatever he did in school.

Surprised

My whole marriage I have been trying to have the perfect house. I have wanted to have it perfectly clean at all times with no clutter, no dust, no soap scum-- basically a clean house with the idea, "a place for everything and everything in its place." I have never been able to accomplish this goal because of my husband and children with their toys, papers, books, and clutter that they have often been annoyed with me for putting away or getting rid of. And because I have often chosen to play with kids and let the pick up wait a while. Well now I have finally achieved my goal!!! I have a good excuse to tell everyone to put everything away all of the time and to keep it that way because we are selling the house. I have been able to keep all of the chrome spot free, the sinks shining, and dust to a minimum. But to my surprise I do not love it. It is just too much work. On Sundays, when we are not having any showings, I am relieved to not have to tell the kids to put their toys away immediately or to have to clear away John's books, wallet, keys, papers etc from whatever surface he deems most convenient. I will be glad when I can let a few toys hang out on the floor and a few papers stacked by the computer once again. Life sure can be surprising some times.