My husband is the fun-maker in our home. If I am home alone with the girls for a day, I think, "Oh good, we all get a day to relax." For me, it is a day of pajamas and movies and peanut butter sandwiches.
When my husband gets a day home with the girls, he thinks, "Awesome! We should ride our bikes and go to the zoo and end the day at Chuck E Cheese." (That last idea made me shudder. Ick!)
So next week is fall break. In the past, if we all have an entire week off, we head south to see family. But since Brandon just had surgery on his ACL, he is unable to ride that far.
Here's what I'm trying to say. Next week. All week. The whole family is home. Sweet Hubby - the fun-maker - is incapacitated. Oh, and did I mention that we have zero dollars in our budget for anything like the movies or museums? Yeah. I have been in a slight panic.
Since I'm not one to let panic "set in," I have devised a plan for each day next week. Here goes...
MONDAY - Decorate for fall day. I have several art projects with construction paper, finger paint, wax paper, etc. that the girls can do to decorate their room for fall. Chloe will love that she has some say in how her room is decorated, and Maple will love making a mess with all the paint.
TUESDAY - Library and blanket fort day. It's supposed to be rainy and yucky on Tuesday; so I thought we'd start the day (before the rain sets in) picking out fall books at the library. Then the girls can come home and build the biggest blanket fort EVER and read their books. (A movie might be included around nap time.)
WEDNESDAY - Pumpkin Pickin' Day. We're not going to a pumpkin patch this year because we don't want to do anything that leaves Sweet Hubby out of the festivities. So we're heading to the Farmer's Market to get our pumpkin supply. Since my girls are too little to carve the pumpkin themselves, we will get one big one for the whole family. Then we can get smaller pumpkins and gourds for them to color with permanent marker and/or paint.
THURSDAY - Ti-pi in the back yard day. I'm not really sure how this is going to work, but off the top of my head, I'm thinking a large sheet from Goodwill and my paint easel. I'm planning to spread the sheet on the ground and letting the girls paint it. Then I'll secure it to the easel and pile pillows and blankets under it for a fun play area outside.
FRIDAY - Cooking with mommy day. We'll start the day with pancakes (which Chloe would do by herself if I would let her). Then we'll make a batch of sugar cookies and make these fall leaves.
Each day will probably have some reading/study time with daddy and some down time in front of a movie. But it's nice to have some activities planned outside of the normal daily flow.
What about you? What are you planning for fall break?
Friday, October 14, 2011
Monday, October 10, 2011
Four Simple Things...
It's October 10th. Seriously. October. Tenth. Two Thousand and Eleven.
Gahhh...
It's also 11:18am, and I have spent the majority of my morning making lists. They are titled things like: "THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY HOUSE THAT I DO HAVE THE ABILITY TO CHANGE" and "THINGS I WANT TO REDUCE IN MY LIFE" and "THINGS I WANT TO INCREASE IN MY LIFE" and "THINGS THAT SMELL FUNNY." That last one was a joke. Just making sure you're still with me.
I have also hopped around different websites creating a cleaning schedule for myself and my kids. (I can't believe they are actually old enough to start helping me. Crazy!)
I would have also made a list for Sweet Hubby, but it's almost basketball season. He's a coach. I think he'll have enough on his hands.
I said AAAALLLLL that to say this: Today begins...
21 DAYS OF ALL THINGS GOOD.
My final list is comprised of certain things that I know I can start doing RIGHT NOW and maintain for at least 21 days. I'm not saying these things will happen every day for the rest of my life, or even for the next 22 days. But I'm saying I can do them for 21 days, and I'm hoping that at least some of them will stick around longer.
So without further ado...
21 DAYS OF ALL THINGS GOOD:
1. Reuse, re-purpose. When I kick off a new cleaning routine, I tend to use one foot to clean and the other foot to spend. (Get it? Kick? Foot? Hehe...) Not this time. This time, if I see an organization need, I will scour my house and storage for an item that can be reused or re-purposed to meet that need. My goal: to spend LESS THAN $10 in the next 21 days on organization items.
2. All things done by 3pm. As you can probably tell by now, I am a list person. Heck, I spent half my day today making lists and not actually accomplishing anything ON those lists. So I'm giving myself a deadline: Each day, that day's list MUST be completed by 3pm or it doesn't get done. No more surfing the web for two hours in the morning only to stay up past bedtime to complete my list. No more reading a good book during the day, only to ignore my family while I clean the house in the evening. If it's not done by 3pm, it's not getting done.
3. Goodbye, sweets! For the last several mornings, my breakfast/lunch/snack routine has been comprised of whatever delectable sweetness happens to be sitting on my counter. Donuts, pie, cookies, more donuts, more pie... and I'm thinking that might not be the most healthy of choices. Sweet Hubby cut out sweets on October 1st, which left even MORE sweets to be consumed in our house. Ick. So for the next 21 days, I will fall in line beside him and cut out sweets.
4. Clean as I go. I will pick up after myself. If I have a cup of coffee while sitting on the couch, I will take that empty cup to the sink when I get up. If I do my art on the coffee table, I will return all art supplies to the craft room when I'm done. It sounds simple, but I'm here to tell you that if this is the ONLY item on my list that I actually STICK with in the next 21 days, it will be life changing.
That's it. Four things. Reuse and Re-purpose, get everything done by 3pm, no more sweets, and pick up after myself.
More to come...
Gahhh...
It's also 11:18am, and I have spent the majority of my morning making lists. They are titled things like: "THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT MY HOUSE THAT I DO HAVE THE ABILITY TO CHANGE" and "THINGS I WANT TO REDUCE IN MY LIFE" and "THINGS I WANT TO INCREASE IN MY LIFE" and "THINGS THAT SMELL FUNNY." That last one was a joke. Just making sure you're still with me.
I have also hopped around different websites creating a cleaning schedule for myself and my kids. (I can't believe they are actually old enough to start helping me. Crazy!)
I would have also made a list for Sweet Hubby, but it's almost basketball season. He's a coach. I think he'll have enough on his hands.
I said AAAALLLLL that to say this: Today begins...
21 DAYS OF ALL THINGS GOOD.
My final list is comprised of certain things that I know I can start doing RIGHT NOW and maintain for at least 21 days. I'm not saying these things will happen every day for the rest of my life, or even for the next 22 days. But I'm saying I can do them for 21 days, and I'm hoping that at least some of them will stick around longer.
So without further ado...
21 DAYS OF ALL THINGS GOOD:
1. Reuse, re-purpose. When I kick off a new cleaning routine, I tend to use one foot to clean and the other foot to spend. (Get it? Kick? Foot? Hehe...) Not this time. This time, if I see an organization need, I will scour my house and storage for an item that can be reused or re-purposed to meet that need. My goal: to spend LESS THAN $10 in the next 21 days on organization items.
2. All things done by 3pm. As you can probably tell by now, I am a list person. Heck, I spent half my day today making lists and not actually accomplishing anything ON those lists. So I'm giving myself a deadline: Each day, that day's list MUST be completed by 3pm or it doesn't get done. No more surfing the web for two hours in the morning only to stay up past bedtime to complete my list. No more reading a good book during the day, only to ignore my family while I clean the house in the evening. If it's not done by 3pm, it's not getting done.
3. Goodbye, sweets! For the last several mornings, my breakfast/lunch/snack routine has been comprised of whatever delectable sweetness happens to be sitting on my counter. Donuts, pie, cookies, more donuts, more pie... and I'm thinking that might not be the most healthy of choices. Sweet Hubby cut out sweets on October 1st, which left even MORE sweets to be consumed in our house. Ick. So for the next 21 days, I will fall in line beside him and cut out sweets.
4. Clean as I go. I will pick up after myself. If I have a cup of coffee while sitting on the couch, I will take that empty cup to the sink when I get up. If I do my art on the coffee table, I will return all art supplies to the craft room when I'm done. It sounds simple, but I'm here to tell you that if this is the ONLY item on my list that I actually STICK with in the next 21 days, it will be life changing.
That's it. Four things. Reuse and Re-purpose, get everything done by 3pm, no more sweets, and pick up after myself.
More to come...
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