Okay so I'm trying to get my life in order and stay organized and on top of things! Keeping to some sort of schedule is very much needed, yet very much dreaded. I don't enjoy schedules, nor do I look forward to having one, BUT with a family our size, I think it's in the best interest of everyone involved that we at least TRY to keep one. So, for starters, I'm going to talk about my new "Life Book". I'd like to give a shout out to Beckie at Infarrantly Creative for inspiring me to create my "Life Book". I could have printed her version and just used it but she is a blogger & mom, and I'm a sewer, mom, and schooler, etc. I just needed to tweak a few things and add a few catagories.
This is a work in progress and I plan to add a couple more catagories and some tab dividers to make it more user friendly. I will start with some Jan-Dec dividers.
Each month's divider will have a Meal Calendar, Weekly Lists (Household/Office), Shopping Lists, Notes, and a second calendar just for Birthdays
The backside of the page on the left is the "Office" page, and the backside of the Right page is a blank page of "Notes"
One of the sections on my Household Page is "To Blog About". I'm making an effort to write down things throughout the week that I would like to blog about. There are lots of funny, serious, and crazy things that go on in a house of our size, so by the weekend, I have weeks worth of talking to do...Lucky You!!!
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Last month I spoke a lot about schooling. Ready for a little bit more? I sent JD one of my very kind and loving emails that he gets quite often. "I'm done...I hate it...I quit...Come home before I die" Yes, it was one of those days. His responded that he had begun to see a pattern. Every other day I send him one of these e-mails, and every other day I send him one very much the opposite. He suggested that we school Every Other Day (just make sure it's on a good day!). What a great idea! This allows me to not feel guilty about needing to go to the grocery, to drs. appointments, run other errands, etc. PLEASE don't tell the kids. They don't know that I'm doing school everyday. On one of the off days last week we had a "FIND EVERY LAST KID SOCK IN THE HOUSE DAY'. It took all morning and even pushed lunch back an hour. (See later post about socks below). And wouldn't you know that after we finished, they were asking if it was okay to start school...Well, yes, I believe it is okay...go right ahead! They weren't stressed and neither was I!!! WooHoo!!!
I guess when you get one or two ducks in a row, you might as well just start lining things up.
We have joined the YMCA!!! Not only am I excited to get fit, in shape, and loose about 30 lbs. they have 2 hours of CHILDCARE included with your membership. The way I see it, is that I could drop the kids (ALL 6 OF THEM), work out or join a class for the first hour, and use the second hour to relax. I can sit in the reading room quietly, or I can shower (without interruptions), apply makeup, dry & straighten my hair and leave there ready to rock and roll. This benefit to membership means more to me than absolutly any other perks. The first time I worked out, I was sort of amazed that I was able to put my headphones on and listen to whatever I wanted to without interruptions, and I could leave the world behind and go into my own dream world.
On the particular afternoon that we went in to officially sign up, it was a quiet afternoon. The kids had not had a nap and I knew that it might end up being a trying time, so I was mentally prepared. But I wasn't quite prepared for how the event unfolded. While I was filling out paperwork the kids were playing peek-a-boo with another worker up/down the stairs, in front/behind the desk, around the corner, and some were even watching the swimmers through the window. I was looking up very often to make sure I knew where each kid was and what they were up too, but not being too worried about it because there was another adult keeping their attention. THEN all of a sudden I hear the Fire Alarms blarring...Oh yeah...they will NEVER forget the Duprees! One little boy's curiosity got the best of him! I told him he was not in trouble but that we needed to learn a lesson from this one. By the time I finished filling out my paperwork, I found out that there was no childcare between the hours that we were there, so we had to leave...but look what we found in the parking lot...
Lizzy was the only one brave enough to get her photo taken with the fireman!
*************************************
Have I ever told you how much I LOVE PINTEREST? Well, I do. I pin a lot of things, but boy have i ever used it. It is my go to cookbook, kids craft ideas, sewing ideas, and most importantly my ORGANIZATION DESTINATION!
This weeks #1 Household Project: (As mentioned above): SOCKS. I was sick and tired of washing, drying, sorting, pairing, and then putting most of the socks into our mismatched bag for later pairing. I had had ENOUGH. So on our "FIND EVERY LAST KID SOCK IN THE HOUSE DAY" that's exactly what we did. They all came to me in the laundry room. All of them were turned right side out, unrolled, unpaired, etc, and thrown into the wash....do you have any clue as to how many socks 6 kids have? We've only purchased maybe 5-6 pkgs of socks in 6 years. It's like socks find their way to our house to screw with mommy's mind. Anyway, I washed and ENTIRE load of kid socks, and this is what I came up with:
Once this box was further sorted into Boy & Girl socks, I found the contents alone to be a bit overwhelming. There were 155 girl socks & 147 boy socks. And I can guarantee there is no way that I would be able to come up with 151 pairs of socks!
From this (Above)
to this:
to this:
So much better! Each kid has their OWN small laundry bag for their OWN socks & undies. Every night their new (good) socks & undies go into these bags (color coded by mom - they don't get a say when it comes to organization). On their wash day, the bag is tossed (as is) in with their laundry (that they are required to haul down the stairs) - This is all new to me - making them be responsible for helping wash, dry, fold and put away THEIR clothes...I CAN'T DO IT ALL...
Now that each kid has 6 pairs of socks each, I expect that this should be pretty manageable. UNTIL I realized that even so, we now have 36 pairs of kid socks...but, it's a lot less than 151 pairs!
ENTER...PROBLEM #2
THE TRAMPOLINE vs. NEW SOCKS
I've been so very mean to not let a single new sock out of the house (unless it's on a kids foot and in a shoe). So for the past week the kids have been in and out of the old sock box more than I like (since I JUST WASHED THEM ALL), but all of our new sock still look new!
Kudos to my best friend Maria for the best idea ever! We now have 2 packages of TRAMPOLINE ONLY socks. 10 large pairs & 6 small pairs (this should cover our kids, a few neighbor kids, & the cousins too). In order to better identify these socks we Tye Dyed them tonight! Might I say, we did a HORRIBLE job, but hey, it was our first time and the kids loved it. They are setting up now and tomorrow we will get to remove the rubber bands and see their creations!
So about the socks! They washed well, are STILL UGLY AS CAN BE, but quite functional...we LOVE them!
*****I'm finishing this blog several days later, so bear with me as I gather my thoughts again*****
Like I said earlier...I LOVE PINTEREST! I've got to figure out a way to have a section on here with all the "Pinterest (y)" things I've done as a way I can review them and remind myself of the great things we've tried, along with the bad things we will never try again!
Here's another activity (one of the great things) that I've begun using with the kids.
Each kid has a "Caught you being good" jar. I'm trying to encourage good behavior and praise them more often for the good that they do rather than to have an entire day of "no, don't do that, how many times have I told you, why would you even think that's a good idea, etc.type of days. I think today was one of the best days yet. Getting 6 kids out the door to get somewhere on time is a challenge. I usually send a couple of kids to the car to get strapped in while I'm finishing up with assisting another child. By the time I get to the car 5-10 min later, I find all the kids out playing in the yard INSTEAD of doing what they had been told to do. Well, today it worked...FINALLY. When I got to the car ALL THREE BOYS were sitting quietly in their seats, fully buckled, and ready to roll! By golly, I was so excited that they each got TWO POM-POMS! If they fill their jar (well reach a certain number of pom-poms, they will get $2.00 and a trip with mommy to the Dollar Tree. (Except Lizzy has explained that she would rather just save the $2.00)
My favorite part of this system is, that the jars take up every bit of windowsill space above the sink, therefore it no longer collects, coins, clippers, cups, chewing gum, screws, and whatever else that is small that doesn't have a home. :o)
About Thanksgiving. This year the International Connections Ministry @ FBC Durham (which JDs been a part of for sometime now) encouraged families in the church to have a couple of internationals in their home for the holiday so they (internationals) could experience one of a handful of truly American things. We chose to have our Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving so we could incorporate a touch of the Christmas tradition (putting up of the tree) as well as stuffing our tummies with food and football.
We had lots of fun and learned a lot about China and Tibet. Did you know that our 1495 sq.ft. house in China would sell for about 2 Million dollars? CRAZY HUH?
Okay, so I must end before I really get to blabbing. I need to go to bed and get at least a little bit of sleep! Good Night, Everyone!
This is a work in progress and I plan to add a couple more catagories and some tab dividers to make it more user friendly. I will start with some Jan-Dec dividers.
Each month's divider will have a Meal Calendar, Weekly Lists (Household/Office), Shopping Lists, Notes, and a second calendar just for Birthdays
The backside of the page on the left is the "Office" page, and the backside of the Right page is a blank page of "Notes"
One of the sections on my Household Page is "To Blog About". I'm making an effort to write down things throughout the week that I would like to blog about. There are lots of funny, serious, and crazy things that go on in a house of our size, so by the weekend, I have weeks worth of talking to do...Lucky You!!!
*****************************************
Last month I spoke a lot about schooling. Ready for a little bit more? I sent JD one of my very kind and loving emails that he gets quite often. "I'm done...I hate it...I quit...Come home before I die" Yes, it was one of those days. His responded that he had begun to see a pattern. Every other day I send him one of these e-mails, and every other day I send him one very much the opposite. He suggested that we school Every Other Day (just make sure it's on a good day!). What a great idea! This allows me to not feel guilty about needing to go to the grocery, to drs. appointments, run other errands, etc. PLEASE don't tell the kids. They don't know that I'm doing school everyday. On one of the off days last week we had a "FIND EVERY LAST KID SOCK IN THE HOUSE DAY'. It took all morning and even pushed lunch back an hour. (See later post about socks below). And wouldn't you know that after we finished, they were asking if it was okay to start school...Well, yes, I believe it is okay...go right ahead! They weren't stressed and neither was I!!! WooHoo!!!
I guess when you get one or two ducks in a row, you might as well just start lining things up.
We have joined the YMCA!!! Not only am I excited to get fit, in shape, and loose about 30 lbs. they have 2 hours of CHILDCARE included with your membership. The way I see it, is that I could drop the kids (ALL 6 OF THEM), work out or join a class for the first hour, and use the second hour to relax. I can sit in the reading room quietly, or I can shower (without interruptions), apply makeup, dry & straighten my hair and leave there ready to rock and roll. This benefit to membership means more to me than absolutly any other perks. The first time I worked out, I was sort of amazed that I was able to put my headphones on and listen to whatever I wanted to without interruptions, and I could leave the world behind and go into my own dream world.
On the particular afternoon that we went in to officially sign up, it was a quiet afternoon. The kids had not had a nap and I knew that it might end up being a trying time, so I was mentally prepared. But I wasn't quite prepared for how the event unfolded. While I was filling out paperwork the kids were playing peek-a-boo with another worker up/down the stairs, in front/behind the desk, around the corner, and some were even watching the swimmers through the window. I was looking up very often to make sure I knew where each kid was and what they were up too, but not being too worried about it because there was another adult keeping their attention. THEN all of a sudden I hear the Fire Alarms blarring...Oh yeah...they will NEVER forget the Duprees! One little boy's curiosity got the best of him! I told him he was not in trouble but that we needed to learn a lesson from this one. By the time I finished filling out my paperwork, I found out that there was no childcare between the hours that we were there, so we had to leave...but look what we found in the parking lot...
Lizzy was the only one brave enough to get her photo taken with the fireman!
*************************************
Have I ever told you how much I LOVE PINTEREST? Well, I do. I pin a lot of things, but boy have i ever used it. It is my go to cookbook, kids craft ideas, sewing ideas, and most importantly my ORGANIZATION DESTINATION!
This weeks #1 Household Project: (As mentioned above): SOCKS. I was sick and tired of washing, drying, sorting, pairing, and then putting most of the socks into our mismatched bag for later pairing. I had had ENOUGH. So on our "FIND EVERY LAST KID SOCK IN THE HOUSE DAY" that's exactly what we did. They all came to me in the laundry room. All of them were turned right side out, unrolled, unpaired, etc, and thrown into the wash....do you have any clue as to how many socks 6 kids have? We've only purchased maybe 5-6 pkgs of socks in 6 years. It's like socks find their way to our house to screw with mommy's mind. Anyway, I washed and ENTIRE load of kid socks, and this is what I came up with:
Once this box was further sorted into Boy & Girl socks, I found the contents alone to be a bit overwhelming. There were 155 girl socks & 147 boy socks. And I can guarantee there is no way that I would be able to come up with 151 pairs of socks!
From this (Above)
to this:
to this:
So much better! Each kid has their OWN small laundry bag for their OWN socks & undies. Every night their new (good) socks & undies go into these bags (color coded by mom - they don't get a say when it comes to organization). On their wash day, the bag is tossed (as is) in with their laundry (that they are required to haul down the stairs) - This is all new to me - making them be responsible for helping wash, dry, fold and put away THEIR clothes...I CAN'T DO IT ALL...
Now that each kid has 6 pairs of socks each, I expect that this should be pretty manageable. UNTIL I realized that even so, we now have 36 pairs of kid socks...but, it's a lot less than 151 pairs!
ENTER...PROBLEM #2
THE TRAMPOLINE vs. NEW SOCKS
I've been so very mean to not let a single new sock out of the house (unless it's on a kids foot and in a shoe). So for the past week the kids have been in and out of the old sock box more than I like (since I JUST WASHED THEM ALL), but all of our new sock still look new!
Kudos to my best friend Maria for the best idea ever! We now have 2 packages of TRAMPOLINE ONLY socks. 10 large pairs & 6 small pairs (this should cover our kids, a few neighbor kids, & the cousins too). In order to better identify these socks we Tye Dyed them tonight! Might I say, we did a HORRIBLE job, but hey, it was our first time and the kids loved it. They are setting up now and tomorrow we will get to remove the rubber bands and see their creations!
So about the socks! They washed well, are STILL UGLY AS CAN BE, but quite functional...we LOVE them!
*****I'm finishing this blog several days later, so bear with me as I gather my thoughts again*****
Like I said earlier...I LOVE PINTEREST! I've got to figure out a way to have a section on here with all the "Pinterest (y)" things I've done as a way I can review them and remind myself of the great things we've tried, along with the bad things we will never try again!
Here's another activity (one of the great things) that I've begun using with the kids.
Each kid has a "Caught you being good" jar. I'm trying to encourage good behavior and praise them more often for the good that they do rather than to have an entire day of "no, don't do that, how many times have I told you, why would you even think that's a good idea, etc.type of days. I think today was one of the best days yet. Getting 6 kids out the door to get somewhere on time is a challenge. I usually send a couple of kids to the car to get strapped in while I'm finishing up with assisting another child. By the time I get to the car 5-10 min later, I find all the kids out playing in the yard INSTEAD of doing what they had been told to do. Well, today it worked...FINALLY. When I got to the car ALL THREE BOYS were sitting quietly in their seats, fully buckled, and ready to roll! By golly, I was so excited that they each got TWO POM-POMS! If they fill their jar (well reach a certain number of pom-poms, they will get $2.00 and a trip with mommy to the Dollar Tree. (Except Lizzy has explained that she would rather just save the $2.00)
My favorite part of this system is, that the jars take up every bit of windowsill space above the sink, therefore it no longer collects, coins, clippers, cups, chewing gum, screws, and whatever else that is small that doesn't have a home. :o)
About Thanksgiving. This year the International Connections Ministry @ FBC Durham (which JDs been a part of for sometime now) encouraged families in the church to have a couple of internationals in their home for the holiday so they (internationals) could experience one of a handful of truly American things. We chose to have our Thanksgiving dinner the day after Thanksgiving so we could incorporate a touch of the Christmas tradition (putting up of the tree) as well as stuffing our tummies with food and football.
We had lots of fun and learned a lot about China and Tibet. Did you know that our 1495 sq.ft. house in China would sell for about 2 Million dollars? CRAZY HUH?
Okay, so I must end before I really get to blabbing. I need to go to bed and get at least a little bit of sleep! Good Night, Everyone!
