I give up!

I have finally figured out how to clean my house and have it stay clean for more than an hour....wait til the munchkins go to bed and A) It goes WAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY quicker, and B) It stays clean for more than 2 minutes!! I'll have to take a picture of my kitchen floor. I give up, really. Farm. 3 Boys. Bare feet. Dirty Dirty floor. I don't even want to think about what's in my carpet. (Which I want OUT!)
Ok, here I sit tonight after my cleaning frenzy last night and the floor OFFICIALLY looks like I haven't touched it in weeks.....I GIVE UP!

Webkinz

My boys still like their webkinz....and in fact August was quite distraught when his account was winding down and he had to get another one or he wouldn't be allowed to play! (Great marketing, but cheaper than PenquinWorld!) Anyways we got a new Webkinz - the fantail Godlfish, very cute. (And very cute that my boys sleep with them and Pooh Bear in a tight grip!) When I woke up this morning I could hear voices yakking away. I wondered what they were doing and when I finally got up they were both up on the top bunk. I asked what they were doing. I was told they were having a Webkinz Party! Then I watched. Sawyer said, "August, my guys need to meet your new Webkinz" So August put forward his goldfihsh, "Hi, I'm Shiney!" Sawyer marches his Penquin Forward, "I'm a Penquin and I eat fish" *chomp chomp chew chew* and the Penquin tries to eat the Goldfish! I had to laugh!

How many hours of fun??

How many hours of fun?

Random Photos....

Made Circuits (Sawyer 'found' this kit downstairs, HOURS of fun......) Oooops, posted this before I was done......Playing with Picassa and "Blog this" and trying to make my writing go around my photos.....


















I am obsessesed with their curly tails, they really DO have curly tails....

Bottoms up Mama Hill Billy!

Busy Busy Days....

Three little boys finding tadpoles a couple of days ago....














Onions and Leeks....

















August's Transplanted Sunflowers...He spend HOURS yesterday digging up "volunteers" from the strawberry patch (where sunflowers were growing last year) and placing them in two rows at the edge of our garden....
Not a brilliant photo, but wait for it, when they are up I'll get a beaut!












August and Sawyer were dressed and "checking" the sunflowers when I got up this morning. Then August made a sundial...and they played with an electronics kit....all this was by 8:15 by the sundial....

Bedtimes....and Mommy Mess Up

My kids go to bed sometime around 7:30 -8:15 the goal being 7:30. My oldest son REQUIRES a set bedtime as he wakes up with the early birds no matter what time he goes to bed and if he hasn't had enough sleep we suffer endless pointless meltdowns all day that are completely unsolvable.....see me gritting teeth. (Keep in mind that we are flexible....if someone really "can't sleep" they can read a book in bed.) They are usually asleep within minutes of lights out - something to do with an active outdoor lifestyle I suspect. Recently he asked a couple of times when their bedtime was gonna change, so I made a change. I said we would follow the same bedtime routine (PJs, Pee, Teeth, books.....) but then they could leave their lamps on and read themselves until 8 or 8:15......Which works as I'm usually with Holdy in our bed singing and lying with him while he goes to sleep anyways.....So last night was the trial run.....and today August was weepy all morning......I'm hoping it wasn't the new "bedtime" but my total mother screwup.....
I was making my raspberry pancakes for breaki and said "August can you get the plates out?" Meaning of course "get the plates out!" and he said "no" which ticked me off, mostly because I knew I'd misworded my request and secondly because he was wanting me to go downstairs and find him frozen berries to eat and now I didn't want to do something for him.....When I asked Sawyer to get out the cutlery and he said no I was even more ticked. I inherit this nasty little way of manipulating from my mother. You know the old "Do you think we should add salt to this gravy?" or "do you think we should light the fire?" to which I always answer "No I don't" and it wasn't really a request....So you see my boys come by their NOs honestly. It ticks me off NO END when my mother starts with her commandrequests.....So why do I do it? ARGH!!! So when August said "Are you going to look for the raspberries now?" I snottily answered, "No I don't feel like it." I can be a really bad parent. He left the room (looking hurt) and I presume looked for himself. Don gave me a nasty look. And I felt bad bad bad. And 5 minutes later he came and got the plates out. Talk about mommy manipulation. And August was weepy the rest of the morning.....it would have been easy to blame it on the bedtime eh?

Creamer in the Water

Went for brunch last week with my sister and her family. The kids were given an activity pack with crayons, something to color and some "magic potion" to add to their water.....I think it was some kind of koolaid, hubby thinks it was something that changed colors....Nevertheless upon reading the ingredients we didn't want them to put it in their water.....My sister's daughter proceeded to add it, and some jam, and some creamer, and some salt and pepper to her water. We had a activity bag with us and our kids were entertaining themselves well without this extra diversion and we didn't 'let them' make the same potion. I've thought on this and discussed this with a likeminded mom and here's my take. My sister's daughter is very very very high maintenance, very very precocious and very very intelligent. My sister is not really allowed to have an adult conversation ... She is constantly side tracked by her daughter who demands her mother's complete and utter attention. It has been like this since day one. I decided that it was easier for my sister to allow her daughter to play with her water than try and "control" it. It gave her a couple of minutes to talk with my husband. I think my sister made a conscious choice to allow her daughter to make the potion. Fine. So what was the harm of a potion water? "EXACTLY" said my friend when I relayed the story, "What is the harm?" She wanted to know if we had strayed from our "unconditional" parenting philosophy. Now I've been pondering this thought too. Here's my take. It's our job to teach our kids how to behave. Mostly we do this by modelling. I try super hard not to punish and threaten but to teach instead and lead by example. I try and talk to them calmly about expectations. Kids aren't to write with pens on the walls (except well, in their bedrooms if they so choose), they are to pee and poop in the toilet not on the floor (exept if they are outside, then fertilizing the garden is ok), they help mom clean up after dinner by putting their dishes on the counter when they're done dinner (when they're old enough and when they remember), they are not to hurt other children, they need to wash their hands before eating and after toileting....blah blah blah. I guess my point is I'm not a psycho mother, I don't have "chores" for my kids, I have 'rules' or 'behavior expectations' and I try and model expectations. If we clean their room, we do it together as a fun activity.....I don't demand stuff of them. Making a mess and a potion at a restaurant is not ok with me. HOWEVER, next time I'll make sure they know that they can make a potion at home.......I'm not sure that I'm being clear on what I'm trying to say that is where do we draw the line on allowing our kids "freedom" in their behavior and teaching our kids about something that is generally not acceptable??