In reality, I'll probably get very little of this done. I'm pretty sure the first couple of weeks I'll be so excited to have "free" time, I'll sit and watch Glee. Then I have to factor in the every other week doctor appointments for my neck and the every other week volunteering in Monster's class. Let's not forget the weekly grocery shopping as well. Even though I tend to be a realist, I still like to dream big.
Starting next week, for the first time in 6 years, I will have kid free time during the week. I have all these huge ideas of what I plan on accomplishing. I have these crazy plans of getting my house in much better order. Honestly, it's not bad now, but there are some things that just can't find homes. I plan on finding them homes. I plan on refinishing my hardwood floors. A couple of months ago, I tried this product called Restore-A-Floor on half of my downstairs hardwood flooring. It wasn't a miracle restorer, but it worked nicely. Gave the floor back it's shine. Due to children and lack of room to move furniture, I never finished the other half of the floors. So that's on the list. I plan on baking. I love to bake, but lack the time. I plan on exercising. I may not run since my race will be over in 3 more weeks, but I plan on doing yoga regularly now. I plan on finally painting my bathroom baseboards (that technically the contractor should have done 5 years ago). I plan on having more fun activities planned for the kids. Well, not planned, prepared is a better word. I'm constantly planning them, but we get into it and then I don't have one or two things we need. I completely plan on being better prepared for that! I plan on making some cute little homework/paperwork boxes for the kids, OK, really for Husband, to keep the kids' school work separate from all the other paperwork floating around the house. I plan on reading. I plan on finishing projects I've started but found I can't complete with the kids around. Sunshine's tutu is a great example. I started it 4 months ago, but every time I pull it out to work on, Sunshine plays with all the tulle and then I spend the next session of tutu making trying to reorganize it to cut. I plan on walking Puppy. Since the kids are learning how to ride bikes, Puppy hasn't gone for decent walk.
In reality, I'll probably get very little of this done. I'm pretty sure the first couple of weeks I'll be so excited to have "free" time, I'll sit and watch Glee. Then I have to factor in the every other week doctor appointments for my neck and the every other week volunteering in Monster's class. Let's not forget the weekly grocery shopping as well. Even though I tend to be a realist, I still like to dream big.
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I have a lot of projects that I do with the kids, but I've also been doing projects for the kids. I'm all about organization. Lately, the kids' paper has been getting out of control. I saw this on Pinterest, but there were no directions, just an idea. For Monster's room, I decided to make him a picture bulletin board. He's got so many pictures and wants them all in his room. I got all prepared, even called a friend who I know has made one of the ribbon bulletin boards, and then Monster changed it up. he wanted to see the frame. I got to then measure and cut instead of just pull and staple and glue. Turned out cute though. Tooth Fairy bag is done. I would like to take credit, but I can only take credit for the idea, not the sewing. I really was going to sew it, but my friend has a sewing machine and she's much faster at it. I gave her my idea, the material Monster picked out, and she got it done in about 10 seconds. His name is one the back. He originally wanted it to say "Tooth Fairy" on the one side, but we couldn't find letters small enough. He settled for a picture of the Tooth Fairy instead. Sometimes I things just for me. I found a pin that suggested using hole reinforcements to do French tips. Didn't get around to it until just recently. I had my nails turquoise. The tips were chipping so I decided to try the reinforcements. The didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. In fact, I did my right had free handed and I think it turned out better than the left with the reinforcements. Practice makes perfect though, so I'll keep working at it. Another tip that I've been using and doing daily is using baking soda as facial scrub. It is leaving my skin super soft and almost flake free (I have very dry skin).
I tried a pan cleaner thing I found on Pinterest. It failed miserably. Maybe my pan is too far gone, but this did not work at all for me. With school starting back up in two week for Monster and 4 weeks for Sunshine, I'm hoping to get to more experiments. We shall see. Sunshine is working on the letter C. She made a Monarch caterpillar for the letter C. We looked it up on the computer and had a mini science lesson that went with our craft. Monster received a letter from the tooth fairy last night to help ease his worries about losing his tooth. Here's what it said: For a while now, I've been wanting to make waterproof windsocks with the kids. I finally got around to doing it today. Sunshine wasn't able to tie the plastic bag strips, but she helped by holding the plastic ring still for Monster to tie. It was super simple to make. Just take the lid of a plastic container (ours was Country Crock) and cut the center out. Take several plastic bags, five to be exact, cut off the bottoms and handles, lay flat and then cut into long strips. Tie plastic bag strips onto plastic ring. Add string with a loop to hang. Monster loved making this and Sunshine loves how it looks outside! I got this idea from here, but, adjusted it.
...the kids will play. When Husband is gone, I try to fill the kids days with fun stuff so they don't realize Daddy isn't going to be home to put them to bed. Luckily, this week was "cooler", and we spent a lot of time in our pool (it's in full sun, which is why we weren't in it when it was in the 100's). We also did some fun art projects. Sunshine and I made "B" bees to help learn the letter B. The kids painted suncatchers for their bedrooms (I helped Sunshine a little). We built "forts" in the basement for the trains and served up lots of pretend ice cream while building. We FINALLY joined the Summer Reading Program at the library. The library is tough for me. Monster just wants to sit and read and Sunshine wants to run around, grab as many books as she can, and hoard them. I plan on toughing it out though because they both love to read.
Since the deck is freshly painted, we've been having front porch popsicles. The kids love this because they are busy bodies and can see what's going on in the neigborhood! Plus, the popsicles are homemade, using fruit and vegetable juice and have no artificial colors. That makes me super happy! Monster has helped me clean out the basement closet and get rid of a lot of stuff. Almost every last baby item is gone now. I have a box for each child of little things I'm saving, but that's it. We also found a bunch of mine and Husband's old college notebooks. Monster was thrilled! More notebooks for him! I found old teaching stuff and put it up on Paperbackswap, set some aside for Monster's school, and donated some to the library. The kids have also been going through their toys and books to decide what they no longer want and can donate. Normally, we have Pizza Movie Night on Sundays, but this Sunday we had a cookout to go to, so we did it Friday, sans Daddy. We watched Madagascar 2 in preparation for Saturday's day at the movies to see Madagascar 3 (for which Daddy made it to!) Had an awesome weekend, but moving on to another packed week! On deck? The letter C, garden stones, birthday cake baking, finishing up jet packs (I've literally been working on them for 4 months. I will get them done this week. I must!), pool time, and fun with friends! This month has been a bit more hectic than I had anticipated. With Husband being away, school ending, camps going on, swimming, soccer, baseball, and all the other things, I haven't gotten around to posting the fun stuff we've been doing. It hasn't been all work and no play here at the Rock household. Here, we like to combine work with play! We took a different approach to mopping the floor. This way was more fun, and just as effective. Puppy did not like us running and sliding around the floor though. Sunshine is working on letter recognition. I'm trying to make it fun for her. This is her 'A is for Alligator'. Her friend was over and he made one, too. Can you guess which color A is Sunshine's? Learning is fun in this house. Monster and I are doing an evaporation experiment that recreates drought vs. 'normal' weather conditions. We have two containers that started with the same amount of water. One container we leave and don't touch the water. That is our drought water. The other container, we add several drops of water to a night, not much, just enough so that it's getting a bit of water. The goal is to see what happens. Monster already knows, but he's having fun anyway.
We can't leave Sunshine out of science fun. During playgroup,the plan was to make bouncy balls. So glad I decided to test it before having the kids do it. It didn't work. We'll try it again, but, since I followed directions perfectly, I'm not holding my breathe. On deck? Painting with water, windsocks, jet packs, more letter crafts, making a tutu, outside mats, whining jars, and chip clip card holders. Can't wait to see all the results! Back in December when we were doing our Advent Acts of Kindness, after dropping decorations off to the birth center at the hospital, Monster decided he wanted to do something like that again. We decided that we would make Mother's Day cards for them. This plan has been in the making for almost 6 months now and I kept getting asked when we were going to do it. Finally, with Mother's Day a week away, we made our cards. I got the general idea from this site, but wanted to change it up just a little. Yesterday, we made 20 cards. They turned out super cute. We'll deliver them at the beginning of next week. I mostly love that my kids were so happy to do something like this for other people.
Lately, uploading pictures has been killing me. That's made me procrastinate posting some fun projects we've been doing. One project we worked on was painting like Michelangelo. I got the idea here, but adapted it. First, I recycled paper by using the backside of the zig zag track we made. I taped it to the bottom of the coffee table. I then rolled up the carpet, which was brilliant insight on my part considering there was paint and marker on the floor. Before the kids began, we talked about Michelangelo and looked at pictures of the Sistine Chapel. Monster came up with some theories on how the painted the ceiling. When we were done talking and looking at pictures, I let the kids go to town. Forseeing some issues, I divided the paper under the table with a red line, half for Monster and half for Sunshine. They did awesome! I was amazed that in such a small area, there was no fighting over anything. A friend got Sunshine the Crayola Paint Brush Pens for her birthday and they were perfect for this project. Only problem was there were only five colors, so we moved onto markers fairly quickly. Kids didn't mind. They had such a great time with this! Another project we worked on were masks. Monster already had a mask that he had made at art class. Sunshine wanted one, too. I wasn't about to make one near as elaborate. I came across a mask that was super simple to make. I used the basic concept, but then tweaked it. Even though it's not near as fancy as her brother's, Sunshine loves it! Last project I worked on was one of my own. I had seen this idea on Pinterest. It took scrap book paper and "remade" clear, plastic drawers. I liked it, but it was too complicated. I want simple. So, I simplified. Here's the original pin. Here's mine. Not quite as nice, but not too bad. The smaller drawers didn't turn out like I hoped, but I do like the larger drawers. Maybe when I get motivated, I'll come up with a simple idea to make the small drawers better. Best part of it though is that the drawers are now perfectly organized and clean!
My kids had their first friends sleep over Friday night. They are used to friends coming over and then going to bed here, but when they wake up, the kids are gone. This time, their friends were still here!
Sleepovers are right up my alley. I had fun stuff planned. The girls were going to make masks (Monster already made one), we'd go to the park, we'd all snuggle and read in our jammies, when we got up, everyone would have a fun breakfast. I think big. With a 5, 4, and two 3 year olds, things don't always follow a plan. It was still fun though! When the girls got here, they all just wanted to play inside. I was all prepared to let them dig in the dirt outside, but no one was interested. I made dinner and they all entertained each other. I tried to sneak in some extra veggies with Kraft's new Veggie Mac and Cheese. Not so good. The two oldest devoured their first helpings and asked for more. They each took about 3 bites of their second helpings and were done. Monster came over and whispered to me, "The more bites I take, the less good it is". The two youngest wouldn't touch it. So, that was a fail. However, the zucchini cupcakes were a hit...I can't take credit for those though. The girls' mom made them. When dinner was done, we all headed out to the park. Me and four kids. It went better than I anticipated for the first 20 minutes. Then, there was almost a trip to the ER. Sunshine fell off the teeter totter and landed on her arm. It was hanging limp. I have to say, the kids were AWESOME for this. I told everyone we had to go and get Sunshine home so Mr. R could check out her arm to see if we had to go to the ER and they all hustled! Mr. R just happened to be walking up to the park to meet us at that moment and checked it out. Sunshine was able to move it and freaked out about not being able to stay and play, so we figured she was fine (and she is). We got to stay for another 20 minutes at the park before we all walked home. All the physical activity must have worn everyone out because when we got home, one of the girls asked if it was bedtime yet! I was going to make the masks with the girls then, but everyone just wanted to play. I love that all four of the kids were able to get along. The four year old was such a great helper. We were looking for the GloDoodle pen and she helped me pick everything up and organize to try to find it. By the time we were done, we still didn't find it and it was time for bed. I expected some tears for feeling like she didn't get to play since she was helping me, but there were none! My kids would have lost it and I would have heard, "But I didn't get to play!". I may have to borrow her every night to teach my kids to clean up! Bedtime went a lot more smoothly than I had thought. Mr. R. read stories to the girls. I tucked everyone in. Then, Mr. R. read stories with Monster. One of the girls asked why Monster got to stay up and read stories. I let her know he would be going to bed soon, too, but he was older so he got to stay up a little later. A problem that I didn't foresee was Puppy. Puppy desperately wanted to sleep with the kids. Any of the kids. He first tried Sunshine, but was shooed out. Then he tried Monster and was again shooed out. Then he found he could bother the girls. The girls asked to sleep with the door cracked open. Puppy kept nosing his way in. The last time I had to drag him out, one of the girls came downstairs to tell me Puppy was in the room and when I found him, he was hiding on the far side of the bed facing the corner as if to say, "You can't see me!". After we finally locked Puppy on the porch, everyone fell right asleep. Husband blew up an air mattress and we camped out in the living room. By 9:30, I could no longer keep my eyes open and fell asleep while Husband watched TV. At 3 am, Husband and I collided. Either he didn't blow the mattress up enough or there was a slow leak, either way, the mattress was going flat and we rolled into each other. We spent the next 3 hours trying not to move or bump into each other, unsuccessfully. Finally at 6am, we gave up and tossed the mattress aside and slept on the floor. A little after 7:00, the girls got up. A house rule is that, on weekends, kids don't get out of bed until 7:30. I'm a firm believer in everyone following house rules, even if they are guests. Luckily, I know these kids well enough to know they (and their parents) will have no problem with this. I have the oldest one go to the bathroom. She comes out and her sister goes in. While her sister is in, she whispers to me, "I didn't flush so I wouldn't wake anyone up." About 10 seconds later, her sister flushes the toilet. The look on the older one's face was priceless. It was a mix between panic and annoyance. She stops and listens and then says to me, "Good, that didn't seem to wake anyone." Such the little mama. They both got back into be and just hung out in their room until 7:30 (after I had made coffee and had my first cup). We were building with Lincoln Logs when my kids got up. I could hear Sunshine upstairs, super excited her friends were here. Monster came down and started building with us. When Sunshine came down, the first words out of her mouth were, "No! I don't want you play with that!". And so the struggle began. From that point up until we left for soccer, Sunshine was no ray of sunshine. It's obvious we need to work on sharing. There was a 40 degree in drop in temperature over night, so soccer was cold. Very cold. The girls and I all went to soccer while the boys got their haircut. We froze. After about 10 minutes, I asked the girls if they wanted to sit in the van. They jumped on that opportunity. The older one came out and joined me again, but the younger one wanted nothing to do with being out in the cold drizzle watching Sunshine kick a ball around. After soccer, I took the girls home. Monster was a little sad I didn't bring the girls back to play more. We had a lot of fun with our sleepover! I was beat. I actually took a 2.5 hour nap. The kids can't wait to do it again. Now that we know the girls will definitely sleep here, we will most definitely do it again! Hopefully next time, I can work in all my fun plans :) Though Monster's birthday isn't until the end of May, I have started working on his favors for his class. There are 26 kids that I need to make these for, so I wanted to get a jump start on it. I found this cute idea on Pinterest. Like most things, I take the general idea and then change it around. I pretty much followed the same steps in making the cones, except I made them smaller by making two triangles instead of one from the paper. It also said to tuck down extra paper. I just cut it off. Much easier that way. I wasn't thrilled with the idea of loose candy and tissue paper, so I made up little treat bags to put in the top to look like a scoop of ice cream. I stuck a red puff ball on top of the handle to look like a cherry. I sealed the cone with a sticker that says, "[Monster's] 6!". I just used address labels for that. Pretty cute. I've got all the bags made up and two cones down. Only 24 more. I figure if I do two a day (and that's the goal because I know that won't actually happen), I can be done in plenty of time for passing out birthday favors!
Here are the finished binoculars. Monster thinks his are super cool! (Sunshine's not awake yet)
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