Night Time Chart

 

Just recently on pinterest I found a checklist for night time. I decided to make one to fit our family. If the night is rushed we start at "Put on Pajamas" instead of at the beginning, but the goal is to do everything on the checklist each night so that the rooms, teeth, and children are clean each morning. When they start school full time I will probably add "Lay out clothes" and possibly "Make Lunch." This helps reduce morning time rush, and makes going to bed so much easier. It eliminates their excuse for prolonging the process. Once it is crossed off, it is done. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercise

My search for a healthy lifestyle has lead me to exercise. I'm having difficulty with it, as I assume most parents with children do. I have a hard time wanting to spend more then a half hour doing anything because after that point (well actually about fifteen minutes) Kaile and Cope start to get antsy and "bored" so they will start talking, screaming, and singing loudly; non-stop to the point they can no longer be ignored. I know they have figured this out and that is why they do it, but it is hard to ignore. That means that I have about that long for exercise and that is it. Most work-outs take at least an hour. After checking out pinterest I found several routines that had lists of exercises to do. The ones that start with jumping jacks and have about 20 different exercises on them. The whole routine takes over an hour. I realized though that I don't have to do them all at the same time. 50 jumping jacks don't take long and if I took one of those lists and addapted it to me, then I could do the whole list throughout the day and get in more exercise then I am now. In the long run I will need to up the amount I do slightly in order to compensate for the fact that I'm not doing them all together, but for now it is a start.

Here is my list. I'll edit, add to, and rearrange as I go along.

1. Ride Bike (I go around our block twice and then up to the mail box and back before my kids wake up in the morning) 15 min.
2. Jumping jacks 50
3. Russian Twists 50
4. 10 standing push-ups (Will do these against the counter between doing dishes and hitting the next chore.)
5. 40 crunches
6. 20 lunges (Do this while cleaning. I walk from one room to the next cleaning. Now I'll just lunge.)
7. 5 minute wall sit (Can do this while folding laundry.)

I'll try it today and see how it goes! Wish me luck!

Home Made Modgepodge and Etc.

Today I decided I wanted to be crafty. I had a project I'd been putting on hold due to not having any modgepodge. I found a recipe on pinterest for modgepodge, so I thought I'd give it a try.
The project . . . Name plate coasters. I am tired of having to run an extra batch of dishes because each of us used at least five cups during the day. Instead each coaster will have a name on it. Once someone has used a cup it will be put on their coaster. If it is on a coaster it doesn't get washed until the end of the day, and then I always know exactly which cup is mine, Todd's, or Kailey's.
The instructions are simple.
1) Buy some cheep coasters. We got ours from Walmart. You can find them at the dollar store, or any other store, or you can go and get small tiles. Be as creative as you want.
2) Make or buy some modgepodge. I keep leaving town without modgepodge so I made mine.
         There are two different kinds of home-made variations that I've found on pinterest.
        1) *Elmers glue
            * Water
        Take a jar and put one cup elmers glue and one cup water. Shake until it is mixed well.
       2) *1 1/2 Cups flour
           * 1/4 Cup sugar
           * 1 tsp oil (any kind)
           * 1 1/4 Cups water
        Slowly mix all the ingredients over low heat. Don't let boil. If it is too thick add water or oil. The thicker it is the more texture it will have. If you don't want texture add more water or oil.

I made the second one, and made it thick. I added more water/oil and make it thinner as I left the lid off while I was making them, so by the last two it was thicker then I wanted.

Hint: If you don't want texture I'd go with the first variation as the second one, (at least when thick) doesn't dry completely clear.
Here is a picture of the final project. It isn't completely dry at this point, but close to it. When it dried completely the whole name tag was the same color. (A lighter shade of red then I intended do to the modgepodge, but it still looks cute and works.)

So far it has worked great. We still have the same three cups at lunch that we had at breakfast. Yeah!

Baby Books

I have been making my kids baby books. I decided for each child I would do a 0-12 month book, and then each year we also make a family book of pictures of all the important events we had that year. We didn't start that until 2010 though so I am missing four years, but that's alright. So I finished my kids birth to a year and it got me to thinking . . . if I adopt and we don't get a baby, how am I going to make that fair? I decided we would just document the first twelve months they are with us, and I'll include any pictures that I may get of childhood before they found us and we found them. Hopefully it works out okay and they are happy with whatever I can give them. I already love flipping through my books and I know they will be special to my kids. Kailey already loves looking at "baby Kailey and baby Cope." 

Time Scheduling

I thought I would share how I keep on schedule. I don't always, but I've been trying really hard. One of the things I found was that I would spend hours online. Not because I needed to, just because I would lose track of time. If I wasn't online then I would spend most of my day cleaning and not spend as much time as I needed with my kids, or I would spend all day with the kids and not get to the cleaning. I also found that Kailey was feeling like I "loved Cope more" because I would spend much devoted time to him and then not have any specific "Kailey" time. I have 11 alarm options on my phone. So what I've done is put an alarm for each event in my day. I have wake-up, exercise, therapy at home, school, outside time, lunch, nap time, and me time. I also have the specific therapy times outside of our home. Each alarm isn't to keep me on an exact schedule, I don't automatically quit what I'm doing and start on whatever the alarm says, but it is a reminder that time has passed and that I have other things to do. Therapy is for Cope and then I do an hour of "school" with Kailey. "School" has made life easier because then I can tell her it is Cope's turn and she'll have a turn with Mommy later. It makes her less frustrated and jealous and it works well in helping me stay organized. I have also found if I give them outside time before naps then they are more tired and less likely to fight taking the nap. It makes naptime go more smoothly. Giving myself some time to do whatever I want for the day helps me be more patient with the kids and makes for an overall better day for all of us. So my suggestion is set alarms. It helps both the parent and children stay on task. It keeps me from wasting away my day.

This is a picture of some of the words Kailey copied to write a Santa letter at Christmas. During "school" time we practice writing and learn letters along with whatever she chooses to do for the day. She is doing so good!