Martial Law declared

This summer has just been hard. Im not sure exactly what different between this summer and last but it has been.

Im not sure if I was just hyper focused on Gideon and his numerous medical issues last summer and since hes doing fabulous this summer, Im more focused on all the kids or what. Either way things were rough enough that on Wednesday I declared martial law. Cause it just wasnt working, the kids were fighting, I was yelling and nagging and life generally wasnt getting us anywhere.

So I started them out with a family meeting, well more of a mom lecture to tell the truth. I told them this just isnt working and something needs to change. Im not even getting to laundry or any of the other detail cleaning and work I need to do because Im constantly interupted dealing with fights and meltdowns and getting them to do the chores. My eldest children really should be at the point they can get the chores done decently without the reminders to focus and do what needs to be done.

So we started out with some team cleaning. All the big kids super cleaning the kitchen while I worked with the little ones ina bedroom. We worked thru the house on wed and worked on cleaning the garage today. I told them martial law will stay declared until I see improvements in behavior.

They arent impressed with martial law cause it means no friends over at all and they basically have to do whatever they are assigned. The first day they didnt even do their regular chore rooms the way we usually do.

Hopefully this will get all of them and myself back on track. So far Im exhausted but I do have a clean garage -- lol!

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Neighborhood diner and hotel

I used to say a lot when the kids were small that I wanted our house to be the hang out spot when they got older. I wanted to be the one with the "cool house" and be the "cool mom"

Lets just say its harder than it looks. I discovered early on that Im not one of those moms that thrives on extra kids and the subsequent crazyness. So its a constant battle at times to say yes to a sleepover, to letting them eat over, to letting them hang out when all i want to do is say no freaking way.

It really is a good thing, getting to know your kids friends. Its just hard sometimes. So i fight my selfish nature and especially this summer Im trying to say yes as often as possible without losing my head in the process.

Im learning to still have my kids do their chores at chore time even when friends are over. Sometimes some of the friends pitch in(sometimes more than my own kids) somtimes they dont. I dont make a big deal out of it mostly. We generally have enough food, so its fairly easy to just set another plate at the table.

For my own sanity, i have instutited a few sanity saving rules. Like for instance, Wednesdays are declared no friends over days. That way I have a little break. Its also the day my friend comes over for moms group, so I also get some adult time as well. And Sunday night is family night, so no activities or going anywhere on sunday nights. The other thing that helps is having a definitive start and end time. That way I can prepare for the events of the day. Other than that, if their chores are done and I dont have doc appts or other things that take me out of the house, IM trying to say yes.

Last night we had two kids over for supper and subsequent sleepover. One is staying another night! Thats okay Im losing one of my own to a birthday party sleepover at a friends, so its all good :)

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Cant seem to find my groove

Lately its been hard to get past the constant interuptions of the day. From fights between siblings, to Gideon finding somthing new to get into to phone calls and the list goes on and on. I get little bursts of productiviity but it feels like everythign is dreadfully behind.

I really need to get my storage room and bedroom organized ... again. But those are time intensive projects and I feel like I have no time to start any of that let alone just get basic laundry done.

Hopefully today I can get somthing done. I dont have any therapy or doctor appts or anyone coming over. So if the kids cooperate maybe I can a little bit ahead on my project list.

God is good ... all the time
MJ

Take Two

I'm alive just busy as usual. It seems that someone or something is always interupting me and well it just leaves less inspiration to blog.

Anyway, we headed down to Wisconsin this past weekend for a reunion on my Dads side of the family. We decided to drive down and back the same day, so it was a whirlwind trip. We left at 2 am Saturday morning and got to Richland Center around 730. Travel was faster with only one bathroom break!!

It was nice getting to see some old friends in the morning. The kids needed to burn off energy, so we invited them to the park with us. We also managed a few nostalgic stops at the music shop and donut shop in town. The funny part was seeing the same gentlman we saw at mcdonalds that morning, at the donut shop later in the morning. He apparently had his rounds to make!

The kids had fun at the reunion. My grandmother had door prizes and marshmellow races with spoons for hte kids to do. We even managed to sneak in a visit to my other grandparents house and the kids all snagged mollasses cookies on the way out the door.

Finally got home around 1130, pretty exhausted. Andrew did all the driving ... pretty darn amazing since he only got two short naps during the day.

Summer continues to roll on: the kids are enjoying trips to the library, biking, fishing, and just hanging out. It feels like we have a stream of kids coming and going.

Gideon has taken off this summer as well. He is now walking all over the place, climbing on every surface he can and loves going outside to eat the sand. Its so much fun to see him walking across the room!

Well thats all for now folks,
God is good ... all the time!
MJ

We had an awesome weekend!

We finally got on the road just after 4 since we had to wait for our van to be finished. The air conditioning was getting fixed. So we were thankful for that on the road! We arrived around 920 or so since we had made a supper stop along the way.

There were some dicey thunderstorms along the way. We kept outdriving one cell and running into another. At one point, we quickly were checking for tornado warnings when the rain appeared to be coming from multiple directions. We got there safely though! My hubby is an awesome driver, I would have pulled over multiple times in the sheet rain.

We hit the waterpark early on saturday morning and spent around 3 hrs there. The kids loved it, since we got there at 630 am, we had the place to ourselves for over an hour. That was nice. Its a pretty small waterpark compared to some of the big ones that have popped up so it really wasnt that busy there. That was kinda nice as well.

Gideon didnt like the water much at all, it was pretty cold and he just was scared. So he spent a lot of time on our lap or on the edge of the water with us. Zemirah had just a blast stepping on the little jet fountains and then letting go and it sprayed up in her face. She was a joy just to watch. Ezekiel was up and down the water slides and kept trying to sneak over the big pool to play on the bench area that wasnt as deep. Ariana enjoyed talking to everyone she saw lol. Elijah loved having the water basketball hoops and we heard plenty of pleas for us to play basketball with him. Zechariah really liked the big slides when they were open. Nathaniel liked showing off how much his swimming has improved and we had a fun game of tag Josiah worked on his strokes as well and did a cannonball off the big slide. Katarina liked taking Zemirah down the big slides with her.

We hit the waterpark at least 3-4 times over the weekend, so it was really nice. I think we will be back. The suites are very reasonably priced and we loved the fact it wasnt as busy there.

The family renunion was nice too. Smaller than I anticipated but nice and intimate. It was enjoyable being able to figure out who is related to who, and so I have a much bettr picture of my grandfathers side of the family.

We also got to see my parents and they loaded us down with all the venison and beef they hadnt eaten in the last year. So we got a huge amount of meat, what a blessing !

We took the long leisurely drive home. We stopped at a playground we usedto take the oldest kids to when we lived in the area. Hit our favorite clearance shopping place and drove home along the mississippi river.

All in all, a nice little vacation trip.

God is good ... all the time
MJ