Friday, September 28, 2012

Five for Friday

1.  We have a great life going right now!  Preschool for Logan and Mason, soccer, dance, library, piano, gymnastics.

2.  It was my turn to do preschool co-op this week.  7 five-year olds learning about fire safety...it was fun!

3.  This week was our project week for our homeschool co-op.  We met behind the Stake Center and set off rockets of various kinds!  It was a nice wrap up to our space unit.

4.  Kessiah and Jenessa had activity days this week.  I think they are going to start meeting together at the Stake Center.  It will be really nice to have them meet at the same time...one less activity!  And the Stake Center is close!  The downside is I have to take the crew with me to take them and drop them off...I have been leaving some of them home with either Jenessa or Kessiah while I take the other one to activity days!

5.  It's Fair week.  Kessiah entered some cupcakes and some art projects.  Jenessa entered some fudge, an essay, and a painting.  Kessiah and Logan each entered a painting.  We went to look at the exhibits tonight.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Five for Friday

1.  It has been a usual busy week for us...Mason's preschool, Logan's preschool co-op, Lollipop group, gymnastics (which Jenessa has decided to not do anymore), soccer practices, Kessiah's dance class, piano/library.

2.  I had a funny conversation with Logan one evening.  Jenessa had just told me how glad she was to be homeschooled.  A few minutes later Logan asked me if he was homeschooled.  I said "Yes, sort of...not really since you haven't been doing your worksheets.  You are co-op schooled since you go to co-ops, Preschool co-op and Lollipop group.  Yep, you are co-op schooled!"  How's that for an answer!?!

3.  I was able to spend some time in the garage with Ryan on Friday.  We got a load in the back of his truck to go to Goodwill...that was progress!

4.  Some strange comments heard recently coming from my mouth
"Do not walk on his face!" (directed at Sienna who was stepping on Logan's face!)
"We don't pee on the floor"  (yes, I'm still trying to potty train Mason!)
"Stop eating dog biscuits"  (another one directed at Mason!)
"This is not a play area" (this one was to Corbin...why have all of my kids enjoyed playing in the toilets?  I heard a mom recently say that none of her kids have played in toilets!)

5.  Corbin has had a couple of throwing up episodes and some great diarrhea this week...I think he is teething again!  One morning I just sat and held him for over an hour while he cried...poor baby.  I did give him some Tylenol and tried really hard to give him some Orajel but I had a really hard time getting him to open his mouth for me.  He did NOT want me to get anywhere near his gums!  He gave me a good excuse to wash his car seat cover this week.  (Saturday update:  make that twice...I had to wash it again!)

Friday, September 14, 2012

Five for Friday

1.  It was our 18th wedding anniversary on Monday...Ryan brought me some white roses at lunch time that were beautiful.  Unfortunately, we were so busy that we didn't get the chance to celebrate until the weekend!

2.  Something that made me smile this week:  I found all three girls sitting on the piano bench singing Phantom of the Opera while Kessiah played...it was great!

3.  Something else that made me smile this week:  Sienna and Logan had a picnic on the front room floor.  Even though they really didn't want Mason to join them, they included him anyway!

4.  Kessiah got her braces off on Wednesday!  She has clear plastic retainers on top and bottom.  The plan is to wear them for about a year and then she will need the braces on again.

5.  The town set up 1000 flags on the lawn of the Civic Center in memory of 9/11.  Before they get taken down tomorrow, Ryan wanted to get some pictures of the kids there...it really was an impressive sight.  The kids thought it was great to run around in the flags!







Thursday, September 13, 2012

Time Management/Organization...How I Do It!

I was asked to do a presentation about time management/organization.  At first I was a little surprised because I really don't feel like I'm organized...I'm TRYING to get organized!  But as a homeschooling mom of 6...I have learned a few things!  I do have to have a certain level of organization to stay sane!  I thought I would include my notes here in case I ever wanted to refer to them again.



Top Ten Tips for Time Management

1.        Routine Chart
*See how much time tasks take and make adjustments

2.        Plan Meals & Shopping
*Basic Seasonal Plan
*Use Saturdays to prep  as much as possible
*Prepare Extra to Freeze (when I’m prepping on Saturday I double a dish that I can stick in the freezer)
*Keep it Simple
*Standardized Breakfast-Snack-Lunck-Snack
*Shopping Lists kept inside cupboard

3.       Household Cleaning
*6 Kids +Homeschool=Potential for a Messy House (I wish I would grow an extra set of arms with each child…then I realized I had…I just had to train them)
*Morning Clean-Up (This is just for me-5 minutes)
*Morning Zones (Everyone has 1 assigned job in addition to their super seven)
*Afternoon Zones (Everyone responsible for part of the house -timer set 20 minutes)
*After Dinner Jobs (Everyone has a specific assignment – timer set 10 minutes)
*Saturday Jobs (Everyone has specific assignments – we’re done in under 1 hour)
*Weekly Zones (These are just for mom, done on Friday)
*Make it fun…music, high fives, Go Judy Team, do it together, set a timer
*Seasonal Changes…school starting, January, summer starting
*I LIVE IN A HOME NOT A MUSEUM

4.       Daily Focus
Designate a focus for each day of the week
Divide that focus into 5 different tasks (one for each week)
Sometimes I get to spend an hour on this focus, sometimes I’m lucky to get 15 minutes!

5.       Weekly Planner-clipboard
*weekly vs. daily (I prefer weekly)
*MIT (most important tasks)

6.       Home Management Binder

7.       Binders
*take notes on repeating events so I don’t have to look the same thing up every year
*Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter
*Vital Records Binder
*Binders for each child (swimming lesson, summer reading program, fair)
*School…keep notes so I know what worked
*Holidays (including General Conference)…menus…Christmas Planner

8.       Limit Screen Time
*”We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes.”  President Monson
*Make a list of things to do on computer so I can sit down and do them all at the same time

9.       Realize that I’m the Mom/Five Facet
*Self-Discipline, Consistency, Attitude
*I have to Initiate Tasks
*Taking Care of Myself:  Spiritually, Emotionally, Mentally, Socially, Physically

10.   Heavenly Father’s Help…PRAY
*HF is organized, He wants to help us

Friday, September 7, 2012

Five for Friday

1.  Mason's preschool, school, library & piano were part of the normal routine this week.  We enjoyed having Monday off for Labor Day...we didn't do much but hang out around here and relax (and stress about our external hard drive that seems to have quit working, we ordered a new cord that will hopefully fix the problem!)

2.  Soccer practices started up this week.  Jenessa has 2 each week, Sienna and Logan each have 1.  There is some conflict on one night which means dropping off and driving back and forth between practices.  It was nice to give the boys some extra outside time...they need it!

3.  I hosted preschool co-op this week.  It was pretty fun (if you ignore the part when Logan had a tantrum and I had to carry him to his room for a time-out!)  We talked about, read about, did someand learned about APPLES.

4.  We had a first group meeting with the Lollipop Project.  So far, we are a group of 5 homeschooling families getting together once a week.  This month the topic is Astronomy.  Jenessa, Sienna, and Logan all loved it so much they wanted to do it every day!

5.  I took Kessiah to the doctor this morning, we thought she might have pink eye.  Her bottom eyelid was really red and swollen by the time she went to bed last night.  This morning it looked a lot better, but I was worried that it would get progressively worse as the day went on.  The doctor thought it was a mosquito bite but prescribed some eye drops just in case.  Ryan got the eye drops during the day, but her eye never got worse as I expected it to, so I guess it was just a bite!