Oh The Games We Play!

I've been so busy since school started with homeschooling one child, which turned out to be much more work than expected but also more enjoyable, and working from home, which I couldn't do without our awesome team...there is no "I" in "team"!  Not to mention the million other things that MUST be done as a wife and mother to 5.  When you add all the things I want to do there need to be 48 hours in a day!  However, I was getting really sick of seeing our book shelves that hold all of our games looking like a twister just blew through (Helloooo Dorothy!) so I took a few minutes out to do some organizing.

Game Book Shelf - Before

Ewwwwww....Right?

So off I went to the dollar store  to see if they had some containers I could use - on the cheap...because that's how I roll.  They had some but I wasn't impressed so we headed over to the local Wal-mart.  I hit the jackpot.  I found these little doosies that had a touch of color as well.  They were only a buck and are a better quality than those found at the dollar store.

I wanted to put all of the games in containers that matched so I found these as well.  These were $3.50 or so but I splurged and bought what I needed.


More expensive but just what I wanted

So then the kids and I went to work.  We put more than one game in a bin and used ziplock baggies to separate pieces and/or games. Below you see the Monopoly game.  Money is paper clipped and put in one baggie, cardstock cards are rubberband together and all the playing pieces are in another baggie.  This board happens to fold into a square...thank you very much...however, not all the boards would fit..wouldn't you know.

Which is where the final container comes in.  It isn't perfect but it works. My Sorry board was too long so I cut it like the Monopoly board.  WARNING!  They don't make them the same as they used to so my board broke in thirds...Nothing a little duck tape didn't fix.  Duck tape is not only for the men anymore!

The games that don't have boards or have boards that don't fold neatly into my wonderful square containers were put in the dollar containers separated into plastic baggies and the boards were put in the "game board" container.  I then used Avery 5265 Full Sheet Labels and cut them to the size I wanted.  I used those because I had them but next time I would use Avery 48264 Shipping Labels.

The end result looks like this...oh yes! I can live with that!

Now for the question of the hour...does it work? Do the kids keep it nice? The answer is absolutely yes! They even played a couple games they have NEVER played. Our shelves have looked like this for over a month already and it still looks the same. SUCCESS!

Pizza Night In

Tonight we made home-made pizza.  The kids were so excited!  I really enjoyed it because I didn't have to do anyting at all! Here are some photos...eat your heart out!

Ainsley made half cheese and half pepperoni

Christian made his with bacon & turkey and
went light on the sauce

Becka chose bacon and turkey too

Ricky went all out bacon, turkey and pepperoni!

Add caption

This is our bonus child Lilly...She LOVED the pizza!

Say Hello to My Little Friend

Our kids had THE WORST table manners of any human being I have ever met.  They were so bad that I even resorted (after threatening for months) to making one of the kids eat dinner on the floor in the laundry room like an "animal" because her manners were atrocious. THAT is where our little friend comes in.

I would like to introduce you to our friend Mr. Piggy.  He has resided with us for about 5 months now.  I LOVE him but the kids don't really care for him.  Mr. Piggy sits in the center of our dining room table and joins us for meals. 

If one of us uses bad manners then Mr. Piggy gets to sit with that person.  If a different person uses bad manners then Mr. Piggy goes to sit with that person.  The person who has Mr. Piggy at the end of the meal gets the priveledge of cleaning the kitchen! Ha! Now you know why I LOVE Mr. Piggy and the kids do not. 

The most fantastic thing about this magical ceramic swine, besides that it cost me a buck at the dollar store, is that it only took each child 1 time of cleaning the kitchen to learn to use acceptable manners at the table.  It also provoked a lot of conversation about what is acceptable and what is not.  They learned a lot about manners that may be acceptable when hanging out with friends as opposed to what is expected at a nice restaurant.

I wish I could say this little angel was my idea but it was not.  I found it on Pinterest from a blog by Becky Madsen.  I also used her idea of the rummage box.  Where she would pick up things her kids left behind and put them in "the ransom rubbage box".  To get an item out, instead of paying money out of their allowance (which is what we used to do until they no longer got allowance), they had to pull out a chore.  This is so much better than paying because your house gets clean in the meantime.  My kids sometimes don't care if I take things away...how horibble is that....so I told them that if after a week the item was still in the box it would be donated to charity.  That worked wonders also! :)

An Update....A Year in the Making

Wow! It's been a year since my last post.  I hit a hard wall of writer's block and just didn't have anything to lend.  That was then.

It's been a good year.  We've met some more incredible people who I just know were planted here for us.  I have personally been on a journey with God for this last year.  My OP (Original Pastor) haha Trent Renner used to say that God loves us just as we are but he loves us too much to allow us to remain as we are.  That phrase has stuck with me and I definitely understand the immeasurable truth in that today.  I was recently learning about some of the prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Christ and realized that I don't really care about prophecy being fulfilled.  I don't need that type of proof that God is real, Christ is the Messiah, died on a cross and rose from the dead.  The proof, as they say, is in the pudding.  The trick is not to put God in a box.  What knowledge we have is so limited that we cannot even begin to understand His ways.  All I know is that when I pray, when I release my (perceived) control, when I surrender to God, AMAZING things happen.  My life is so much fuller, peaceful and joyful than it has been, maybe ever.  I am a new person in Christ today and I am in the midst of a struggle.  A journey that on some days, in some moments takes every ounce of strength I have but I am grateful - Yep, I can say that truthfully.- I am grateful for this difficult journey because without it I may never have started the journey to become the woman God intended me to be. 

I'm also so incredibly lucky to have my best friend taking this journey with me.  He doesn't always understand but he always seeks to understand and support me.  We celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary on the 4th of May.  10 crazy years.  I can't imagine what the next 10 will bring. It will bring 4 of our 5 kids to graduation and the youngest into high school.  I can't imagine how much gray hair I will have by then!  Hopefully it will see us move one more time...to someplace perfect for us but beyond that I couldn't even begin to imagine what God has in store for us.  It is so obvious...painfully obvious at times, that God has something he is preparing us for.

May 2nd was another anniversary we celebrated.  Ricky & Becka have been with us for two years.  At times it seems like just the blink of an eye and at others...well....I have MORE gray hair than I would like to admit.  I can't believe how much they have grown up since last year. 

The kids sleeping quarters...see the river off to the left?

May 11th was Ainsley's 9th birthday and we went camping on our anniversary (May 4) to celebrate.  Chris now works for Schwan's Food Service and has a 4 day work week.  With this particular schedule he gets a 4 day weekend every other weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday & Monday) and gets EVERY weekend off!  So we took off on Friday afternoon, met a friend in Santa Fe and headed up to the Pecos River.  What a beautiful place!  We camped right on the river until Monday and even got hailed on. It reminded me of a little trip with some great friends at Blue River once... ;) Good times, Good memories, Good family and Good friends.  What more can we ask for?

 

Pecos - Just out side our camp

Chris said the area looks just like where he and his family used to camp in the White Mountains in Arizona so you know he was....wait for it....a happy camper!

We had the lovely company of a skunk on Sunday night because I left out some dirty utensils -Well it started to hail!  My momma didn't raise no fool...she taught me to get in out of the rain! lol - The skunk, by the way, is probably what ate the bananas we left out the night before...I know...you'd think we'd never been camping before...BUT in our defense it has been three years.

The kids went fishing...well we'll call it fishing...the water was running really fast so we didn't see any fish...although when I got Addie's line stuck in a tree it came back missing some bait...she figured a fish ate it! I think she enjoyed the fishing the most.

Addie "fishing" & Christian doing what he does. :)

I am looking forward to yet another crazy year as I will probably be home schooling Ricky or something of the sort.  I've just figured out that when a child is behind there is nobody in the system that has the time to help and sometimes we just have to take it into our own hands.  God has lead me to believe, in a big way, that this is what I am supposed to do so I will be obedient even though I've always said I could never home school my kids...I'd probably kill them...oh wait! Dang! Never....NEVER NEVER NEVER say Never.  Another example...God has a sense of humor.

Promotion?

Wednesday, May 18, 2011 was an big day. There are two reasons really.  The first is that May 18th is my mom's birthday!  Happy belated birthday to my mom.  Of course, I sent her a card...and called her on her birthday but this is just a shout out!

The second reason is because Ricky promoted to sixth grade!  When I was a kid we promoted to high school and then graduated from high school.  As our friend at Wal-mart told me when HE was a kid they had one!  You graduated from high school and that was that.  We love our friend at Wal-mart, at the moment his name escapes me.  I'm pretty sure it is Bob but I couldn't say that for sure.  It seems that he's there for all our big days.  This is mainly because I wait until the last minute to take care of things, much to my mother-in-law's dismay! I'm pretty sure this is one thing about me that bugs her.  Well it's probably the only thing about me that bugs her! HA!  You know, I am her FAVORITE daughter-in-law.  I suppose I should mention that I am her only DIL but still.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  This time the lack of planning wasn't EXACTLY my fault.  I have been extremely busy lately.  I didn't receive any written notices or anything of that nature, probably because 5th graders aren't great and bringing these things home.  The notice I received was, "Promotion is tonight at 5:00 or 5:30 Gina."  That was at 1:00pm when they arrived home from school that day.  Yep, I had three hours to get us pulled together for the ceremony.  Unfortunately, Chris was working and not able to get off because his manager had the day off.  Not to mention he was puking all day at work. (That's dedication!)

So I got us pulled together and of course there are no pictures to document my stunning self...cough cough. But there are a few really bad photos of the kids.  I told you before I need major help with my camera and I am very embarrased to post these pictures but this is a big day for us and I have to document it.

Ricky worked so hard and came so far this year.  I'm sure there were many reasons I'm sure like a change in atmosphere, some incredible staff at Vista Grande Elementary School in Rio Rancho, (BIG SHOUT OUT TO THEM...we couldn't have had such a successful year without the caring team over there.) and partially due to starting him on medication for ADD.  The final part to the puzzle, by the way, I believe had the biggest impact on his schooling.  Ricky had a great attitude, for the most part, this year.  I could see how hard he was trying, not only in school but at home as well.  He has so many things he is dealing with and with the help of his counselor at Team Builders (another huge shout out) he is taking control of his emotions, actions and studies.

He is looking forward to going into middle school. I think this might be the first year that he can't wait for summer to be over, even before it begins. 

He has a long way to go but we are so proud of him for the work he's done so far!

What a handsome young man



This is the wonderful Mrs. Johnson,
Ricky's 5th Grade teacher





He fought the tie and tucking the shirt

but afterward he said he's going to wear it to church!



Kids Will Be Kids

Kids will be kids. What exactly does that mean?  Tonight, to me, that means they don't care.  They don't care if they live in a pigsty. They don't care if they have toys.  They don't care if they have nice clothes.  That made me think.  DO they care?  Maybe I just tapped into the truth here which would be fantastic and cheap for me!  Maybe they DON'T really care how nice their surroundings are and that is just something we learn.  These things I've mentioned are all very material.  Maybe the DON'T care and we would be better off taking the cue from them.

I'm not saying that we would all be better of living in a dump.  Living like most of the world in fact.  But I suppose if we got rid of most the extra things we have which is, well, most of what we have.  We would see life for what it really is.  If the girls didn't have dolls, strollers, kitchens, etc they would have to use their imagination.  They could actually enter the world of make-believe.  Remember that world? Everything looked better in the world of make-believe.  The stroller had the fabric that I wanted and the food was exactly what I wanted to serve. I have to admit even the cigarettes where fantastic, they came in different colors (crayola to be exact).  (I've never smoked a real cigarette but I pretended up a storm.) I used pretended that I had braces too.  I'd put pony tail holders in my mouth in front of my teeth.  You know the ones with balls on the ends?  It wasn't so fun when I ACTUALLY got braces but I had a ball pretending.  I remember pretending that our couch was a car.  My mom would let me use a wooden spoon that would serve as the shifter.  I'd stick it between the cushions and anything round would work for the steering wheel.  Heck sometimes I would just IMAGINE the steering wheel!  GASP!  I still can't drive a manual transmission by the way BUT I drove like Mario Andretti when I was a kid. Not one ticket, although I was pulled over a few times.

All the threats in the world don't work to get my girls (mostly) to clean their room.  I'd have a better chance, that's to say it would be easier, to let it go if my youngest, most impressionable little girl wasn't sharing this room with the other two.  I'd say fine be a pig but don't ask me to come in there and give you kisses goodnight.  I wonder, would that do any good?  I think not, they would just accept that as reality and kiss me before they went to bed. Kids are highly adaptable which is unfortunate sometimes.

If you haven't guessed I've had "one of those days" with the kids.  Today I would like to trade them in for a trip to the most beautiful place on earth. Not sure where that is but I know that there aren't any kids living there.  If you are reading this and you are the mother of two or more children you understand where I am today. You also understand that tomorrow is another day and tomorrow the most beautiful place on earth is right here with my three biological children and 2 bonus kids. (Got that bonus thing from friends, thanks Cuellars)  But tonight I'm going to dream of a land that is quiet.  It only has clean houses, bubble baths, thousands of books, fabulous food that is already prepared (and doesn't make you fat I might add) and my husband.  (In my dreams he only knows how to say, "I agree dear." and "You look ravashing!")

Tomorrow (or even in the middle of the night) I will wake up to one of my beautiful children who need my compassion, love, devotion, patience, kindess, gentleness, self-control....wait a minute...this is starting to look vaguely familiar....dang it... I hate it when God does that.  He's up there laughing right now.


(If you don't understand "the joke"...go get your Bible...even the most pagan (lol) of my "family" have at least one Bible...I am almost sure of it...look up Galations 5:22-23. Okay so if you don't you can click the link...GEEZ....LAZY!)

Ainsley is Eight

As I said in my last post, Ainley turned 8 on May 11th.  She's growing up so fast. Tonight she will have several friends over for pizza, cake and ice cream and a sleep over.  Boy I am sure looking forward to that!  

She asked for a puppy for her birthday, from several people in fact.  She asked Papa because, I think, she figured if anyone would get her one it would be him! Ha!  Pretty sure Nana would have killed him....When I told her a puppy wasn't going to happen she asked for a kitten.  That will NEVER happen, mostly because I am allergic to cats (Thank goodness!).  At that point she asked for a fish.  I laugh everytime I think about it.  The thing is she didn't just want a puppy, she wants something that is all hers that she can love...so this year we thought that was appropriate.  So I went in search of a very small turtle but found that they don't stay small. :(  I also found that they are illegal to sell in New Mexico when they are that small (actually the entire US I think).

I was dissappointed but began looking at other options.  I was about to buy her a hampster when Chris nixed the idea.  He says they are too much like rats! lol and I thought I was bad.  I also would have bought a black pappillion/poodle mix that I found in the pet store if Chris hadn't said that he would take it back if I bought one.  I know I am crazy because the last thing I need is another living being to take care of but they are just so dang cute! 

Squirt

Well with the hampster out Chris suggested the Red Eared Water Turtle. So that is what we got.  Not a very smart idea.  It's kind of relaxing to watch but pretty expensive.  The turtle itself was only $20 but it needed a large tank, a basking spot, a basking, light, a UVB light, a water warmer, a filter, and miscellaneous small items to keep the tank clean and feed it.

She named him Squirt and all that really matters is she really loves it.  She wanted to get up in the middle of the night to check on him and she comes straight home from school to see him.  I call it a him but we still haven't figured out how to tell if it is a boy or girl. In fact, I'm not really sure who loves him more...Ainsley...or me.  Chris says I must be sick.

The Rio Grande

Today we went down to the Rio Grande and I took Ainsley's 8 year pictures.  That was a nice time except for the picture taking.  Before we even parked we saw several geese and once we parked we saw all kinds of people on the trail.  There were people running biking.  We actually saw one couple on a bicycle built for two; I always love that!  We saw people walking their dogs and we even saw one gal on a horse.  As for the "photo session", I think I'm going to have to give up for a while until I can devote more time to learning my camera and different techniques.  I'm not real happy with the turn-out.  Part of my problem is that I am in too much of a hurry and not patient enough.  At any rate, here is a sampling.