Free Time

Usually in the afternoon I try to give the kids "free time" for an hour or so. This is a break from math worksheets, geography homework, reading time, recorder practice, etc.

We (meaning = 'mean old mom' and Dad goes along with it) have started to limit their TV time. They would only watch about 45 minutes of TV after school, but I'm done with even that. Now, they only get two days throughout the week of this TV time. Actually, we call it "media time" and sometimes they choose Xbox games for their time and/or computer games. I get to choose the days, it ends up being whatever works depending on our schedule and homework load on any particular week.

The kids are fairly predictable how they will spend their free time and I love it because it is such an expression of their personalities.

Mollee goes to her doll house, which absolutely thrills me. That means she is still a little girl and isn't too big to play for her Polly Pockets and Barbies. She is growing up fast, but I love to walk by her room and see her in 'make believe' world and know, she still enjoys being a kid.

Daegan almost always goes to Legos. That boy can sit and build forever. His determination and creativity never cease to amaze me. If we are having a "no media" day and he has no homework he will go to his room and build Legos from the time he gets home from school (3:30) until I call them for dinner (6:30). Although, sometimes he'll draw with his brothers.

Tavis and Capps never stop drawing. I mentioned here that Tavis wanted to be an illustrator when he grew up. I have stacks and stacks of computer paper *hmpf* all over the house because they have gotten into different drawing frenzies. Yesterday we went to Target to run in for some new pencils (another story, apparently we always buy invisible ones??). Tavis and Capps both wanted to spend their allowance on new little notebooks. They were only 50 cents, but do you know how many notebooks these boys already have??

The reason I started this post was to share this picture with you. Tavis was drawing a Robot Alien and I was so impressed with all the details and strokes of the pencil that he did on this drawing. Capps usually goes for shapes and colors (or he annoys Tavis and copies his exact drawing on a less detailed scale). This was one of I found of his from the other day. Since Mac has free time all day he is never sure what the big deal is about it. He'll draw some or build Legos or play with Mollee or just go to his room and play with trains. That is also a blessing because I feel like the last kid in a big family usually requires entertainment while the others aren't home but Mac is happy to go to his room and play by himself.

Now that the weather is finally cooling off there will be a lot more climbing trees and bike riding!!

Feeling Overwhelmed...

...two ladies that we have been praying for have lost their battle with cancer.


...a friend is dealing with a rocky marriage.


...another friend is trying to get through some issues with her husband.


...a distant cousin/new friend is going through a miscarriage as I type and her husband lost his job yesterday.


...another friend is back at work since her husband (Mr. Mom now) lost his job and there are no other options.


...a family of friends have moved away assuming they sold their house, but paperwork issues keeps stalling the sale and now they are looking at having a mortgage and paying rent.

...financial burdens are all around.

Do you ever wonder how people get through troubled times without the Lord?

"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Ps. 23:4

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me." Ps. 138: 7

Sometimes...

...muscles need to breathe! (according to Mac)

Blue and Gold Day!

Lunch Date

Today I had a date with Moriah's bunch. I took the older three to lunch with Mac and me

(of course, Keegan joined us)Then we stayed for recess.

Here is my cute friend, Adelaide with my sweaty Mac

A New Look for the Boys!

My boys have never used a flat sheet on their bed. They have always just had a fitted sheet and their fleece blanket (whether it was Harley Davidson, Nemo, Transformers, Thomas, etc.). It has been easy. Easy to just wash a flat sheet and a fleece and easy for them to not really have to make their bed. The only problem (for mommy), aesthetics.

For the longest time the boys just had white fitted sheets, but about a year ago I found these great blue/grey/black shark sheets at Target on a clearance table. We had decided to paint the boys room grey so these were going to be perfect (...and we still haven't painted).

I've also wanted to get them matching comforters, but haven't wanted to pay for them and haven't wanted to mess with them making their beds. Again, thanks to clearance at Target, I found some comforters that matched perfectly.

This is how the bunks usually lookAnd this is how they look now.And Capps' bed to the sideMaking the beds reminded me why we haven't done this yet, but I really like how neat they look (yes, I know they will not be made often).

Now, if we could only get the walls painted grey?

Playground Fun

Tonight we went to a birthday party at one of my favorite playgrounds.

Daegan was invited, but we were invited to all tag along and play.There was a baseball game going on - the birthday boy (to the right) with his Dad who was pitching to the kids.Tavis running homeDaegan - a swing and a missJason got to be the pitcher for a little whileLuke's Dad is an elementary school P.E. teacher so he had a lot of games up his sleeves. I really liked this one.

The kids were shaking balls on this big rainbow tarp (you can see them flying in the air)and the kids took turns trying to catch the balls in this fishing net

Jason and I were supposed to be going out tonight, but our plans got cancelled. :( Since we weren't going out Jason was going to work late, but ended up making it home in time to go with us *thank goodness*

It's that time!

and I love it! (Becky don't bring up the calorie count please)
Just wish it felt like that time outside!

Reason # ?? why I love my husband

Because he takes over the homework when I can't do it any longer.

Studying grammar with Mollee on the deck:

To My Blog World..

I apologize for leaving you hanging for five days, I know you've missed me!!

Since the football game my mind has been frozen (or maybe melted to mush from the heat that day). A lot going on, just not much to say. Usually, I find myself, maybe my fellow bloggers do too (?), thinking of new posts in my head all the time. This week, not much brain function, I guess? The ragweed-induced-migraines may have something to do with it?

We are still alive and well.

David's Mimi is out-of-town for 3 weeks so I'm watching him all the days needed instead of spliting them up with her. He is a handful and keeps me on my toes as you may remember from here. It is a lot of work, but it is my grocery money!!

My time in front of the computer has been spent on a project that I will tell you about later, so I haven't wanted to spend any more time at the keyboard.

Hoping for some family fun this weekend to blog about...

F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L

Today the Caines cousins (minues the Philip Caines because of strep, plus two extras - Cullen and Luke) were all together for a birthday celebration for Miles and Isaiah. It was the first of many, many games to come in the front yard at Grandpa and Grandma's.Uncle David and Uncle Jon played the roll of quarterback, while Uncle JR was David's assistant coach.Even tho there were adult quarterbacks, Tavis thought he'd give it a try It was very hot! So we made the kids take a gatorade half time (the Brown's were smart and found the seat next to the fan)Jack was part of the cheering section on the porchIt was great fun!

Lou catching the ball while Eleanor was doing some blocking.Then Lou going for the run, but Jonah was ready for the block.
Mollee making a run for a touchdown (Uncle David trying to resist from blocking her)
Daegan and Elijah were very serious about blocking Malachi showed up to play near the end, but I think his stradegy was 'blind the opponent'

It was hard to tell who was on what team. There were times when people dropped out briefly and teams were lopsided and then they'd come back.A last ditch effort for a final touchdown to break the tieI love football season!

If I can figure out how to get my video on the computer I'll post video soon???

The Boys Bathroom

How quickly they learn to keep some reading material handy

Going to work with Daddy...

..in pretend world and in PJs

A "Heather" Moment

My Mom likes to tell the story that when she would pick us up from school and say, "How was your day?", my sister, Heather, would always jump right in and give detailed information about every moment of the day. By the time we were pulling in the driveway, Heather had only made it to first recess in her story.

It seems strange to me, but my daughter is not my talker. My boys all talk. The two older ones talk A LOT (and that is an understatement). Mollee starting talking at a very early age, but she doesn't talk incessantly. It just isn't her nature. She is an observer and knows a lot more about what is going on then I'm sure we ever know.

Tonight, like we do most every night, the kids were giving a highlight of their day. We don't go in age order, just around the table however they may be sitting that night. When we got to Mollee she said come back to her because she had a lot to say.

Capps got to play with Keegan on the playground (a common highlight), Daegan had computer class, Tavis had stayed home because of some sinus trouble so he didn't have much to report, Mac complained that David pulled his hair (tragic!) and then Mollee gave a full blown description, starting with a detailed review of Mr. Bel's "Bully" chapel talk.

As we were clearing the table and she was still going it made me smile. For once, it was her doing the jabbering.

Allowance

I mentioned this might be my next post and, well, it is!

We have toyed with the idea of allowance before and we've done the chore charts, etc, but nothing really worked for us enough to stick with it. Or, shall I say, worked for me. Here are the two arguments in my head. I want the kids to get an allowance and learn to manage money, but we don't necessarily have extra money to give them. I want them to do chores because they are part of this family. I don't want allowance to seem like they are getting paid for their chores, but should they get a full allowance if they don't get their jobs done? I also don't like for one job to be for one person. I just want the kids to do what I ask of them, no matter what.

So, there are certain chores the kids do - dishwasher, set table, empty little garbage cans in big garbage, take main garbage out, take recycle out, water flowers, get clothes from the dryer, etc. If I ask you to do a certain job, you just do it, no questions asked. I don't care if you did it last time and I don't care if someone hasn't been asked to do a job lately. I'm the mom, just do it! They all have their own jobs that they have to do also - clear their place setting after dinner, homework without complaint, PJs under pillow so they can be found that evening, pick up toys each night at bedtime, laundry in basket, etc.

This has worked much better than me hearing, "It isn't my turn"!!

At some point in the summer I decided we needed to do allowance so the kids could see how they should take care of their money. I don't know how this rates on the scale of others, but for each kid we do 10 cents per year each week. For example, Mollee is 9, so each week she gets 90 cents. Capps is 6, so each week he gets 60 cents. It only costs us $3.30 each week. We have a box that the kids keep their money in and we have an envelope that we put their tithe in (and we take that church once a month rather than trying to remember every one's change each week). We also have a separate container (McDonald's Happy Meal milk jugs) that they put their savings in.

It has been fun and has been good for them to see that you give back some to the Lord, you save some - every time! - and then you can spend the rest on whatever you want, no questions asked. It is really nice because when they ask me for something I'll say, "just save your money and you can get it".

What are your thoughts on allowance?

No Work Labor Day

Ironic, isn't it?

It has been a long time since Jason hasn't worked on Labor Day. When you are self-employed, if you don't work, you don't get paid. Usually he takes off Christmas, Thanksgiving and 4th of July (maybe). After last week, working six long days, he took today off. Yeah!!

We've had a 'do nothing busy day'. The kids actually let us sleep in until 9:00, I could hear they were up and playing downstairs, but stayed in bed until they got restless for breakfast. Note to self: move cereal and bowls to different cabinets so kids can get breakfast themselves. Jason cut the grass and the kids played outside in the morning. Tavis got to go play frisbee golf with some cousins and we all ended up with a really late lunch.

This afternoon I took Tavis, Daegan and Capps shopping. We have started an allowance (another post) for the kids and they wanted to buy something. Of course, we went to Target. Tavis got a Yo-Yo that automatically comes back to you, Daegan got some Star Wars something off the $1 rack, he is always spending so he didn't have much to spend and Capps got an airplane fan that spins and lights up when you press a button and he also got a Yo-Yo (he still had his birthday money from July).

The kids watched a Scooby Doo Movie (thanks instant Netflix) downstairs, while Jason and I watched a movie upstairs (thanks again Netflix, even though the movie was 'Informant' and we didn't finish it because it wasn't worth our time)

We grilled hot dogs for dinner and then went and got free ice cream at Chik-fil-A with all the Kid's Meals toys we had left over from our Kids Eat Free Tuesdays over the summer.

Now I'm going to be confused all week because tomorrow is Tuesday, but it is going to feel like Monday!

A Picnic

If you live where we live you know that today was absolutely beautiful. We've been suffering in 95+ degree weather for at least three months. Today we got a break of a glorious 81 degrees.

I decided that such wonderful weather called for a picnic. So we packed up a lunch and went out to the front yard (real adventurous, I know!). Have I ever mentioned how Tavis like to ruin pictures?To prove that I was there -

Tavis giving a thumbs down because of my shirt (he has been brainwashed into being a Tennessee fan by my brother-in-law)Mollee enjoying her favorite past time, reading Calvin and HobbesDaegan getting every last drop of his Capri SunCapps taking it all inMac enjoying J-E-L-L-O and not sitting?Tavis in a tree

Before we started eating I asked the kids to say a Thanksgiving prayer, I always enjoy hearing what they pick to be thankful for. Mollee was thankful that she could go to a Christian School and have such great friends. Tavis was thankful for a Mommy that would let them have a picnic. Daegan was thankful for the cooler weather (I think I just heard Moriah snicker). Capps was thankful for Keegan. Mac was thankful for Jello. I was thankful for Daddy's job that he loves, even if he had to work today and miss our picnic.