Reviving the Blog for a Book Review!

Hello, Dear Neglected Blog! While another outlet has been slowly eating away at my blog (hello, my name is Tara and I'm a Facebook junkie!) I was given the opportunity to write a book review on my blog.

A couple of weeks ago I received a copy of Vicki Tiede's book "Parenting On Your Knees: Prayers and Practical Guidance for the Preschool Years". I wish I had received this book several years ago when my house was full of preschoolers!

Vicki weaves personal stories from parents of preschoolers together with wonderful and practical parenting tips. At the end of each chapter readers can join in with the author in prayer for their own children. There are also plenty of blank spaces for readers to write prayers and responses to prayers. As a bonus to each chapter, Vicki also includes read along book suggestions for children and for their parents!

Each chapter is only a few pages long. Long enough to sneak in during nap time, but engaging enough to feed your soul for the day. These short chapters are packed with fun stories, scriptural insights, parenting tips as well as a call to remember to bring our children before the Throne of God on a daily, if not moment by moment basis! I strongly suggest this book as a companion to any new mother. It would make a wonderful baby shower gift, a giveaway at your moms group or a great gift for yourself as you travel the road of bringing up your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord!

WFMW: Break the Dawdling

I have an idea that has worked wonders for my dawdler and thought I'd share.

Toby (6, 1st grade) is a dawdler. He would literally take 8-12 minutes or more just to get his pajamas off in the mornings. DH asked me to come up with something to encourage him to get a move on! Truth be told, our first inclination was to punish for dawdling. I never really fleshed that out, but who wants to wake up to potential discipline every morning before school? So instead we're rewarding for being fast.

I created the "Toby's 10 and Under Time Sheet" and hung it on the wall. Toby has 10 minutes for each of three tasks (get dressed, eat breakfast, wash and brush) and then (because there were 4 slots on the premade sheet) he gets a bonus point if he does all three things under time. For the last two days Toby has been able to get his stuff done in far under the time allotted!! Added bonus? Aidan (8, 2nd grade) took it upon himself to run the timer and draw the stars on the chart. Aidan and Toby are my two who have the most friction. Aidan has been Toby's timekeeper AND chief cheerleader! Double bonus points for that! :) Most surprising thing? I didn't even specify an incentive. It's enough for Toby to get the points and stars on the chart.

So that's what works for me this week! See if you can find something that works for you at We Are That Family!

WFMW: Laundry update

Back in the spring I started a laundry system to tame the monster that was my laundry room. I wrote about it *here*. I have since made a few tweaks to the system and have found that it works even better for us!

Here's what I do now. I still use the triple laundry sorter. I have made a few adjustments to the "laundry buddies".

Monday: Dad and Aidan
Tuesday: Mom and Toby
Wednesday: Evan and Avery

Basically I've split the uniform wearers up a little better and made a much more noticeable distinction between sizes. I have also given up on doing towels and such on Thursday and just throw them all in when needed; often I can do the entire towel stock on Tuesday or Wednesday thus being totally done with laundry from Thursday through Sunday! How many other families of six can say they don't do laundry four days out of seven?

And how many loads do I have to do Monday through Wednesday? Usually two or three. That's it. A couple loads a few days a week and then I'm free!!!

And THAT, my friend, works for me!

Lengthening the Leash

I have a parenting theory; I never do for a child what that child can do for himself. For the past few months I've given my three-year-old daughter my library card and stood a few feet behind her while she checks out her books at the desk in the children's section of the library. This morning I decided to take it a step further. I was out of sight of the desk, yet my daughter was ready to check out her books. I gave her my card and told her to go check out her books (I did tell her to make sure she got her "ticket" receipt so I would know she completed her mission.) She took the card and confidently strode off in the direction of the check out desk.

My little daughter was positively beaming from ear to ear when she returned from her little errand! She then trotted off happily to an area of the library where older kids (elementary aged usually) sit and read. I guess she thought if she was old enough to check out her own library books without mommy right behind her she was old enough to sit where the big kids sit! :)

My Free Range Mom Moment

Lately I've been enjoying the blog, Free Range Kids. The basic premise of her blog is that we hover (helicopter parent) over our children and they don't get to experience life as we did. Kids need to be free to experience a few bumps and scrapes. They need to get dirty and entertain themselves.

So, last night I had a "Free Range Kid Moment". Jim was planning on taking the boys to a family friend's house for a camp fire. Evan asked if he could ride his bike. The friend lives about a mile away. 90% of that mile is a medium busy street (though partway down it does have a sidewalk). For a brief second I was about to say no. Then my Free Range Parenting skills kicked in and I said he could do it. He is ten. When I was ten I rode all over town on my bike with no helmet and the only expectation was that I'd be home when the street lights came on! So, with his helmet on, I sent him on his way. I also told him that he had to call me when he got there, to which Jim asked, "should we send the cell with him?" I told Jim that Evan wouldn't need the cell. He could use the house phone at the friend's house just like we did! :)

I encourage you to read the blog Free Range Kids and think about how you can loosen the apron strings a little and let your kids have some freedom today!

Computer time for kids

All summer I've been chasing my kids off the TV and off the computer. It drives me nuts. I devised a simple way to keep track of how much time each child spends online and which kid has had his online time!

I gave each child a post-it note with his name on it. I also wrote how much time each child has on this post-it. Evan (9) gets 30 mins/day. Aidan (6) gets 25, Toby (5) has 20 and Avery (3) has 15. These post-its are stuck to one side of the monitor. I also have a timer sitting on the computer desk. When the child has his time he moves his tag to the other side of the monitor and sets the timer.

No, there are no roll-over minutes. This ain't AT&T!

Also, if the child forgets to start the timer he gets booted off as soon as Mom figures it out. And if they go over their time? They lose it all the next day.

Yup. I'm so mean.

So far it's worked great!

VBS

Just a couple quick bullet points.

1. I am so thankful for Vacation Bible School! The boys are all old enough to go this year, so for several weeks this summer they will be, in no particular order, Evangelical Free, Baptist and Presbyterian. I think Avery will also be old enough to be Presbyterian, but don't quote me on that. I just love the break in the routine, the lessons and songs the kids learn and the Truth that they are being taught.

2. I just got back from my pre-screening appointment at Mayo to determine if I'm a good candidate for a research study in the endocrine department. Turns out I am, so I'm now up for four overnight visits over the next four months. It's a paying gig, so we're not complaning.

3. Evan and I are taking a little vacation starting on Saturday! We're traveling to Florida to visit my sister/brother-in-law and Mickey Mouse. :) So exciting!

Time for my monthly posting!

A bunch of women from our MOPS group got together the other night to celebrate the end of another ministry year. The conversation ranged from the state of various organizations to laundry. One of the things that women with pre-schoolers eventually have to deal with is how to school their kids. In my circle of friends it seems to be quite a difficult decision. Some of course see the sticker shock of private school and opt for public school. Some see the state of the public schools and opt for homeschooling. Some think they could never do homeschooling so opt to sacrifice in other ways to send their kids to private school. The circle continues on and on. So many women struggle with this decision that I am very thankful that my decision is made based on my husband's job at the best Christian school in town!!

When the conversation turns to the struggle of how to educate these little people, I always remember a conversation Evan and I had the summer after his kindergarten year. He came to me one day and asked if I could homeschool him for first grade. When I asked him why he wanted to be homeschooled he answered, "because I don't want a mean and bossy teacher!" My next question? "Are you new? If I homeschooled you you would definitely have a mean and bossy teacher!"

Works For Me Wednesday! I'm back!!!

I'm coming out from my blogging rock to bring you an idea that has worked for our family this week. I have four kids. Naturally that produces a lot of laundry! I would let the laundry mound up, take a day (or two or three) and DO LAUNDRY. I would wash and dry and fold and wash and dry and fold and wash and dry and fold until I thought my machines would go on strike and the mounds of now clean laundry took over my house until I would get up the gumption to put them away. Sound familiar???

So, one night while awake instead of asleep I developed a plan. I know some larger families sort their laundry not by color but by person. I have a triple laundry sorter and many laundry baskets. I figured that if I did each person's laundry one day a week and towels on one day I would be doing laundry every day. Not so much fun. :) So, I doubled them up! Now my laundry schedule looks like this:

Monday: Dad and Avery
Tuesday: Mom and Toby
Wednesday: Evan and Aidan
Thursday: Towels, sheets, etc

Notice a couple of things. I have big clothes mixed with small clothes thus making for easy sorting once the things are done. I've split up Aidan and Toby who are just one size apart thus eliminating the "he has my shirt" "well it was in my drawer" mistakes. An added bonus that Jim appreciates is that since I'm only doing two people's laundry I have room and time to sort like into like as I fold thus saving him the step of sorting out his shirts, pants as he puts them away (this sentence isn't making much sense, but oh well, if you want to know more ask). And the most impressive part of all? I don't do laundry on Friday, Saturday or Sunday. :) Woo ho! So far this has worked very well for our family!

(Linked in with Works for me Wednesday here!)

Where I announce a winner!

Thanks so much for all the great ideas and resources for my political fundraiser lunch! I think I was supposed to announce a winner to the contest sometime last Monday. I have a good excuse. Norovirus. That's all I'm going to say about that. Except that I'm really glad I only have four children and not nineteen or something. :)

So, I went to random.org which chose lucky number four! Mom2Fur is the lucky winner! I've contacted her via her blog and hope to hear from her soon. If for some reason she is unable to fulfill her role as winner I'll pick someone new. :)

Thanks for playing!

Works for Me Wednesday and GIVEAWAY!

I have been involved in MOPS for over nine years. Yesterday our main speaker spoke on the importance of having girlfriends you can go to when you need to ask for help. Well, this morning I need help (and not just because I was up last night literally every 10-30 minutes with a newly three-year-old Avery with the stomach bug).

I'm linking to an earlier this week blog post in hopes that you can help me. See, Jim's invited a congressional candidate to host a fundraiser luncheon at our house!

You can read all about it *here*. Please comment either here or there with any fancy luncheon recipes you may have to be entered into a drawing for a fun kitchen gift!

Thanks!

(And of course you can always click on over *here* to look for more ideas for what Works for others!)

Hospitality, Review Preview and Giveaway!

Recently Jim has gotten Evan interested in politics. They've been to caucuses, attended breakfasts to meet candidates (Aidan went, too) and most recently Jim volunteered our home to host a fundraiser luncheon for someone running for congress! Needless to say this has gotten me a little stressed about the menu! It has also gotten me thinking about different types of hospitality styles and recipes. I know some women have big fancy houses where they can cook gourmet meals and serve fancy drinks from their home bars. That is not me. We have a modest home where I cook home style meals and serve drinks in glasses that do not match. :)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I've been invited to host a review on my blog. The review could not come at a better time! I will be testing these and these. And here is where you come in!

I need some new recipe ideas; ideas suitable to serve to a future congressman at a fundraiser luncheon.

Leave me a comment with your favorite fancy, yet simple recipe and I'll randomly draw a name and send you a fun kitchen gift!

Edited to note: I will be putting together a kitchen gift package for you; it will not be coming from the above mentioned store! I will select a commenter at random on March 1. Let's get cooking!

Coming soon!

Fun stuff to come soon! Let's just say I've been contacted by an online store to do a product review...and possibly a giveaway! :)

Texting While Driving-Anything

Coming out of hiding (much like the groundhog!) to bring you a public service announcement about kids and cell phones. While this isn't a rampant problem right now here in the nation's icebox, it will be once we all thaw out!

A fellow MommyBlogger, FiddleDeeDee wrote this this morning. I'm copying it here with her permission. Please go to her blog *here* to read more of her writing!

I had a scare a couple of weeks ago. I was driving my van down my street, and as I came around a small curve, a young girl of about 10 was riding her bike straight towards me. I stopped, thinking that she would look up and get herself back up on the sidewalk. But she never looked up. Her eyes were cast down, and she was texting on her cell phone.

When I realized that she was going to run right into the front of my van, I honked my horn. The sound startled her enough so that she looked up just in time, and she swerved around me. And no, she was not wearing a helmet.

Had she hit me, even though I had stopped, she would have suffered a good deal of injury. Had she been heading toward someone who may have been distracted, or driving at a faster rate of speed, she could have been killed.

I couldn’t shake that thought. We have a number of residents who drive far faster than they should on our street, given that it is a very narrow street, and is shared by bicycles and children.

I knew where this little girl lived, but I did not know her parents. I debated going to her house and speaking with her parents. If it were my daughter, I would want to know. But, you just never know how something like that is going to be received.

A few days later, the little girl was playing outside at a neighbor’s house, a few houses down from us. I walked down and introduced myself to her. She knew immediately who I was, and that I was the lady in the van. I asked if I could speak to her, and she said yes. And I held her hand and talked to her about how dangerous the situation was that she placed herself in. I knew that the experience had impacted her, by the look of fear on her face when I honked my horn. She was very polite and remorseful, and I felt like I had gotten through to her. A few feet away, some of her little friends overheard our conversation, and I directed a brief “please don’t text while riding your bikes” speech. In my nicest mom voice. Which by the way, is not the voice that I would have used if I were giving the same speech to my own children.

I went back home feeling that I had done some good.

But then a few days ago, when I was leaving the house to go out, I saw another little 10 year old girl riding her bike down the street. This was one of the children that had overheard my texting speech. She was chatting on her cell phone, driving in the middle of the road, then up on the sidewalk, then back to the middle of the road. And then she stopped talking, looked down at her phone, and began texting.

I am a loud proponent of banning texting and even cell phone usage while driving an automobile. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be an issue with children riding their bikes.

This is not going to be a judgment against parents that allow their children to carry cell phones. I know there are circumstances that call for it, I get that. But I wonder if these parents understand the danger that their children are putting themselves into by allowing them to carry cell phones while they are out riding their bikes.

I now regret my decision not to go down and speak to the first little girl’s parents. I’m going to give the moms and dads the benefit of the doubt, and believe that they have no idea their children are putting themselves in harms way.

But you can bet that I’m going to be taking to my keyboard to get the word out. Here, and in my neighborhood.

Have you seen anything similar in your neighborhood? I fear that I won’t hear anything in the media, until something tragic occurs.

Please. If your children carry cell phones, talk to them about the dangers of texting and driving.

Hello dear neglected blog. I'm sorry. I have lots of excuses! :)

This morning I had three extra kids, and wanting to have something for them to do, I sent Jim to the store last night to purchase ingredients to make cinnamon Christmas tree ornaments.

Here's the recipe:

4 cups cinnamon (get the dollar store version, MUCH cheaper!)
2 big spoonfuls of cloves (or not, whatever)
3 cups applesauce
1/2 cup glue (more or less)

Mix the ingredients together. I was sneezing like a crazy lady as the cinnamon wafted up my nose. :)

Mix and mash and knead the dough. Roll it out in small batches and use cookie cutters to make shapes.

Put the ornaments on a cookie sheet, poke holes in them and let them dry. The recipe I found says to bake them at 200 for 6 hours or let them dry on the counter for four days! **Note, I did this this morning and it didn't take NEARLY 6 hours. Mine were dry in 1-2 depending on the thickness of the ornament. Check on them after about an hour, if they still have a little give when you squeeze them let them dry longer. If they're all dry, they're all dry.

We plan to leave some plain, paint some with craft paints and use some glitter on others.

If I ever had two batteries full of juice at the same time or the ability to load pictures on this borrowed bare bones computer I'd include pictures!

A word of warning, your house will smell REALLY strongly for hours after.

Ten Questions answer one, question two

Yesterday I posed the following question, "What's the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?"

My mom's response and one I hope to emulate was, "Spent more time making memories with my children and less time cleaning."

Today's question is, "Why did you choose to be with my father?"

Ten Questions, Part One

Last night I was reading an article in an old Real Simple. Since the magazine was from May the article was fit for Mother's Day and gave ten questions to ask your mother. I'm planning on asking my mom all ten questions, perhaps sharing an answer or two here.

I'm also challenging you to ask your mother these questions if you can.

The first one is, "What's the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?"

Mystery Gift

Last Saturday I took the three littles to Home Depot for their kids' workshop event. While Aidan, Toby and Avery were all making a trivet (yes, they all did 90+% of the work themselves, even Avery!) Evan was home alone. He's nine and we let him stay home alone once in a while; usually for no more than an hour or two.

When I got back he asked me if I'd ordered some flowers. "No, not that I know of, why?" "Some flower shop called and asked when they could deliver. I told them you'd call them back, the number is by the computer." I was shocked and proud of him for not accepting a delivery when I wasn't home (and that he had no knowledge of!)

So I asked Jim if he'd sent the flowers. He denied it (no surprise there!) Toby piped up from the table and told me that he'd ordered them! "Really?" "Yup, it was me." And he said it with this cute little face which was a cross between so serious because he was trying to convince me and a spark of mischief because he was trying to convince me! He kept up his story, elaborating as the day went on. When asked how he paid for the flowers he replied, "when I didn't have enough money they gave them to me for free!" And he decided that "Evan helped me make the phone call because I didn't know the number." (That morning Evan had a lesson in using the phone book to call a business.)

When the flowers finally arrived I was of course eager to read the card! It turns out that the lovely bouquet was an early birthday gift from my parents and brother. As I was pouring over how lovely they were Toby confessed, "I'm sorry I tried to trick you about buying the flowers." I hugged him and reassured him that it was okay and that I knew if he could he would have done it!

PSA time!

PSA for Moms or anyone who's purchased Baby Einstein DVDs in the last 5 years. Baby Einstein is issuing a refund or exchange for their DVDs. The FTC has issued a complaint because of the movie's "educational" claims. Children under the age of 2 (the intended audience) are recommended to have zero screen time.

Print out the following form *at this link*, send in your movies and receive a B.E. book, CD or refund!

Unfortunately we have all VHS Baby Einsteins and can't take advantage of this. But we'd be willing to accept any donations from your refunds! :)

An old story revisited

This morning our pastor spoke on a select few chapters of the book of Joshua. He briefly touched on the story of Jericho, but those brief moments were enough to bring back an unforgettable story from Evan's early pre-school years.

One spring our church offered a parenting class. Jim and I signed up, partly to try to gain new insights, but partly because they also offered free child care for the all day seminar! Evan and his friends had an entire unit that day on Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. They had the Bible story, they sang songs, they watched the Veggie Tale version of the story, they built a wall of cardboard and made horns to knock it down, the whole nine yards. By the end of the day the boys were thoroughly immersed in the tale of Joshua!

A few weeks later I was watching two boys about Evan's age who had also been in that class. With three boys in the three to four-year-old bracket eventually the noise and squirrliness level got to the point where I sent them outside. I gave them the following instructions, "go outside and march around the garage seven times shouting the entire time and see what happens!"

A little while later one of the boys came back in the house and told me that the garage window was broken! It turns out that God did not move the garage in the same way He moved the wall of Jericho so the boys took matters into their own hands. They found some plastic toy golf clubs and started trying to break down the "wall"!