Odds and ends of a fairly productive day...

Alright, so I'm happy to report that today was MUCH better than yesterday!  Hallelujah! Cohen had 3 of his little buddies from the neighborhood over to play this morning while Noah was at school.  For the most part, the kiddos just played downstairs in our large semi- empty living room playing with stuff they dug out of our dress up treasure box... but I did slip in one art project they all did together: They finger painted {or in their case, they painted} chocolate pudding reindeer visors.  If you've been reading my blog now for a while, the visors may look familiar- I think I've made them every year now for the past 3 or 4 years... my boys LOVE to make to them, mostly because they enjoy EATING the pudding while they paint.

F.Y.I.  I've done a LOT of art projects, cooking and crafts with my kids... I've learned that the best way to keep messes contained and not ALL over my kitchen and house is to line the counter where they'll be working at with butcher paper--- it's a MUST and/or give each kid a cookie sheet to make their "thing" in.  I PROMISE you--- just doing these two simple preparatory steps helps make clean up afterwards SO much easier!!!

Have I ever shared how much a LOATHE meal times... perhaps it's due to the fact that again, just like during bath time, I feel like an assembly line work- that or a short order cook...  or  a janitor.  I don't mind cooking meals, I actually kind of enjoy cooking, however I DON'T enjoy it when Bentley's in the kitchen, not even an inch away from me, pestering me for food when I'm a minute away from putting food on the table!!!  I think what I REALLY hate the most about mealtimes in the clean up after meals.  I spend probably a good 15 minutes to an hour every evening (it depends on the meal) cooking dinner; then 5 minutes later my boys have scarfed it down, then I'm stuck spending another 30 minutes in the kitchen cleaning it up.  UGH!  I have a few tricks up my sleeve though to help speed up "the clean up" after meals... 1.  If it's warm enough outside, I'll send my boys outside to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner.  I don't mind crumbs outside, but crumbs in my house--- oh NO! 2.  When it's too cold to go outside, I like to propose we have a picnic INSIDE!  Which basically means, I grab a great big blanket or old sheet, or an old tablecloth- I have the boys spread it out on the carpet in the family room or living room, then we "picnic" and eat our meal ON the tablecloth.  When everyone's done, I gather up the tablecloth or sheet from all four corners, shake the crumbs off of it outside and toss it in the washer.  VOILA!  No need to wash off any sticky, messy, greasy counter tops or chairs!!!  B.T.W.  We DO eat meals up at our dining room table, {but more often our kitchen island}, like every other normal family--- but for those extra BUSY, chaotic, stressful, "I don't want to have to clean ONE more thing!" kinda day, picnics inside the house or sending the boys outside to eat, is the way I roll.

Now that it's too cold to eat outside (it was a nippy 20 something degrees outside today!)--- the boys usually eat their breakfast and lunch at their little table.  They enjoy sitting in the little chairs made especially for them {the little green stool below that Noah is sitting on was the step stool my grandpa built to use in his workshop whenever he worked on his model ships- so it has a lot of sentimental value to me} and I appreciate the little surface I have to clean up. Plus, it amuses me took look over at them from what I'm doing in the kitchen and see all 4 of them gathered together at their little table.  Sometimes I find myself thinking, like I did today, "WOW!  I can't believe I have 5 boys and that most of them are all at that age now where they enjoy doing everything together!"  Even something as simple as lunch here in our house can turn into fun like a Madhatter tea party!  The 4 older boys have such a blast eating together.

We unwrapped and read our 6TH Christmas book this evening-  only 18 more days to go until Christmas!!!  cRaZy!!!  
The book we read this evening was called "What is a Star?"  It's a Just Ask book, written by Chris Arvetis...  Okay, so it wasn't exactly the kind of Christmas book most people would ordinarily think of, but I figured since a star is symbolic of Christmas time- why not read the book so we could teach the kids what stars really are.  B.T.W. Did anyone else hear the great news about how scientists have discovered a new planet in some other galaxy that looks to be like our own and has water- so therefor they believe it probably also sustains some sort of life on it?!!!  Isn't that awesome?!!!  I always figured we weren't alone in the universe.  (click here to watch a video about it).

I believe I've shared the fact that I've just recently joined Pinterest and it's sort of/kind of my new obsession.  I really DO love it and I've found some pretty awesome new ideas for all walks of life on there... the trick is trying/remembering to implement the new ideas into my own life.  To carry out some of the ideas, I may need more $$$ before I can do them, and some I may need more space or time but some of the ideas I've found shared on Pinterest are great ideas I can copy almost immediately because I probably have everything I need for it already in my home.  I found this one last night.  What a brilliant idea, right?!  One of Noah's homework assignment's every day is to work on his sight words and other vocabulary, but flashcards has become pretty boring... he LOVES his cars, so tonight, just before dinner, I whipped up this version of a parking lot, with all of his sight words (he pretty much knows already) and then some more difficult words he's learning to read and spell like, "through" and "their", "there", etc.  All in all, the chart I made had 36 different word stalls for him to park his cars in.  I'd tell him a word and he'd find it on his own and park a car in that stall.  It took a little while to do, but he absolutely LOVED it, and as he was working on it, I had all sorts of great ideas come to mind- ways I could improve the "Parking Lot" game.  For one, I think I'll actually take a little more time on it and re draw it.  I may add a few more car/word stalls and I think I'll add some arrows, for Noah to follow as he drives his little cars around in the parking lot looking for words.  I think I'll also ask Spencer to laminate it for me, but before I do, I may let Noah color it too.  I'll write in all of the sight words his teacher suggests he keeps working on, leaving probably 10 or 15 stalls free of words, and then after it's been laminated, I'll use a dry erase marker to write in any new vocabulary words Noah's working on learning for that moment.  I must say, this idea is absolutely GENIUS and it makes learning fun.  LOVE it!!!