A place for everything...

I was just picking up the toys and miscellaneous items scattered on the floor, and thought I would write a quick post on "picking up" around our house. We have found a system that seems to work, and makes it as easy as possible for everyone to help in the pickup. Basically, the old saying is true- a place for everything, and everything in it's place. It makes it SUPER EASY to put things away. So easy even Jane can help.

Here are some examples:
-we were talking about wearing hats the other day, and Jane (18 months old today!) went and got her 2 hats from the basket in the front closet. She can also put them away if I ask her to, because she knows just where they go. And they will always be there if she wants them again. (Well, we're not perfect...sometimes they do get left in the car or at Grandma's or....but you see what I mean...at least they usually are there).

-Jane has a funny fascination with part of a baby-food masher I've used with all the kids. Now it finds a home in a bottom drawer in the kitchen, and she pulls it out whenever she wants something to stick her hand in. She knows right where we keep it, and it's always there.


-Gene and Lucy can completely pick up the family room, kitchen and dining room by themselves (well, if we offer a slight bribe of chocolate chips it usually increases their willingness...)

-In those "after the kids are in bed" hours when all we want to do is collapse on the couch, it doesn't take any brain-work to put the toys away. In the days after Christmas when we had a boatload of toys invade our house, we didn't have the energy to find places for anything (we had all been sick)...and so "cleaning up" became "shoving all the toys under the tree and against the walls so at least we wouldn't step on them".

So...I've learned my lesson. Invest a little time in figuring out where things should go in the house, and reap a house full of peace and cleanliness.

Pictures

Here are some pictures taken lately. Below is Gene and Lucy in the bath. I think Jane was at the other end of the tub...they still fit in there, but not for much longer. And especially not since everybody tries to lie down now. Even Jane will lay on her tummy and kick her legs. This is good prep for swimming in the pool- Gene will now go to the public indoor pool with us and lay down, like in the picture, in the shallow water of the ramp. It used to be almost impossible to even get him to put his head back in the water and float with someone holding him...this is a good in-between skill:)


This is what I turned around to see one day as I was washing dishes:

And then:




In other news, Jane is walking. And finally starting to talk. She can tell you what a sheep and a cow say. And she can say mine. She is really getting somewhere now...

Sermon of the Day

Gene is saying Mass right now (he has been doing that more since football season has ended). He is in the middle of a sermon, and I am cracking up. The topic is Daniel in Babylon, not bowing before King Darius. But somehow Saint Theresa showed up to be with Daniel, and then they were both with Jesus when he died...

"This Mass is really important, and you should know about Daniel. So we are going to be grateful in our hearts." (now a vestment change...then realized he's growing and his white chasible is getting too small...sad). And then Mass was over (he needed a drink and realized he wanted to play with Lucy, Ben and Ellie).

Future sermons will hopefully be posted. They are anything but dull.

Pictures and Quotes

These are some favorite Christmas presents my kids received. Lucy got a scooter from Brendan (and I, but he picked it out without telling me) and took some convincing to ride it. She couldn't figure out how to push it while keeping the other foot on the scooter. But with a gummy bear for each successful ride around the house, she soon got the hang of it. Jane's eyes lit up the moment she saw the teddy bear from my sister (Aunt Kate). She hugged it and looked just pleased as punch. Now it has a permanent residence in her bed.



And, some new quotes:

I asked Lucy to turn off her fan in her room as quietly as possible, because Janie was still sleeping in the room next door. After making a pretty loud noise, anyway, she paused, turned to me, and explained, "That was just a medium noise, Mama."

Lucy was having trouble eating her pea soup (who could blame her, I remember hating it when I was little, too) one evening, and though we had all finished we were encouraging her. Gene didn't help much when he reminded her that he was already finished, and she was going to be the last one done. Then she remembered that sometimes Jesus ate things that he didn't like (though that didn't motivate her very much- she still didn't touch her soup). The topic of Jesus reminded Gene that Jesus also said, "The first should be last and the last should be first". And then Lucy got her one-uppance as she happily piped up, "Yeah. So I'm first."

So, I can't figure out how to get words to come before the picture! But I have no desire to spend minutes of my day figuring it out...it seems like it's not important enough. Someday I will!

So, above is what Gene and Lucy did the other day when they had way to much energy to be stuck inside on a below-zero windchill day. They spread out an old towel on the hardwood floor of the dining room, and took turns taking each other on rides. And then it degenerated into this:



Lucy would purposefully lean back so far that she'd bump her head...and she was proud of this fact! She even called me in from the kitchen to watch.


Jane has a better attention span for activities now, but it's a challenge to keep up with her. This is something I put together for her yesterday. She puts the popsicle sticks in the milk jug (washed with lots of soap and hot water...she's allergice to milk) and then can shake them out again. Good for one or two play sessions, but then the interest waned and the sticks were just left dumped on the floor. We'll put it away and bring it out again in a few days or weeks.



Janie's absolute FAVORITE thing to do in the schoolroom/dining room is to sit on the little chairs. It doesn't really matter if someone else is sitting there or not. She'll steal it from under them if they leave her any room. I wish I had a picture...it's so funny! And the big kids are good about it- I am surprised that they haven't had a problem with her at all. My problem is that then they are distracted from their work. They don't get upset, but they usually start talking to her and then lose interest in what they were doing. She really needs her own little table and chair... I set her up one afternoon with a crayon and paper, and she loved to draw next to Lucy.



This is her way of telling me she would like her own table. She brought her favorite collection of things (remote controls and phones) to the wastebasket in the kitchen. And she dragged a chair over. And then she just sat there happily for a minute, looking pleased with herself.

Later in the morning, she switched activities on the wastebasket. She's getting good with those buckets! I didn't teach her how to do that. Anytime I suggested she get the buckets out, she would disagree. But then she would get them out occasionally on her own...and voila! She figured it out.

Right now

Right now...Gene is trying to say Mass. And redirecting the girls. And asking me for help. And talking on a cell phone (maybe trying to reschedule Mass for naptime when he can be undisturbed...)

Right now...Lucy is wearing a black shark hat and has spread a blanket on the kitchen floor. She calls it a puddle, and says we can walk around it. She now has a blanket on the dining room floor, and a pillow with it. "Church is almost starting, and I am in the puddle".

Right now...Janie is walking around with an empty sippy cup, and ends up next to Lucy and the "puddle". Lucy is trying to keep her from getting on the puddle.

Right now, I am trying to stay at the computer for more than 1 minute between interruptions. Not having to even talk for a few minutes would be nice, but about impossible. Kids come up to me, or call me, or just cry. I can't get away.

Well, if I didn't expect to have any time to myself, I wouldn't be disappointed. I need to change my expectations, I guess....

Now Jane is crying...better go...so long free time...!

So, here is a random assortment of pictures from the late summer/fall/early winter. I haven't posted any pictures in quite a while...

Gene runs to pull out his tools every time Brendan is working on a project. Here, they are installing some new shelves Brendan built into our school cabinets.



Jane learning to walk with her wagon before the weather cooled off too much.



Jane's favorite place to climb these days- on the wooden high chair turned on it's front (made to have 3 uses- high chair, rocking horse, and desk)



Lucy and Gene love to wrap up in blankets, or cover themselves in blankets, and often fight over which blanket is their favorite (the current favorite is a new one Brendan gave me for Christmas...but it has become Brendan's favorite too and where does that leave me...?)



Gene and cousin Ben at the apple orchard. They picked a few, mostly they ate apples and climbed trees).



On the trampoline. We work on taking turns...



Janie at the apple orchard. She also learned to eat apples this fall, and it kept her busy for the whole hour or more that we were there!



Lucy and Gene took turns climbing up to try and pick an apple from the high branches.



Brendan and his favorite little babe.



Gene was Robin Hood for Halloween.



Maid Marian. But she wanted to be a llama.

Janie as a pumpkin. But not sure where she was going in the early evening hours of Halloween. This year, the other kids sure knew! And Gene was so excited to read all the candy wrappers when we sorted through their buckets afterwards...his favorite candies were "crunch" (i.e. Nestle's Crunch Bar) and "tootsie" (pronounced as in a tooting horn, and without the "roll" on the end).

Brendan and I went to a party as War and Peace...

More pictures may follow. But here are a few Lucy quotes to top it off. She is our quoting kid these days...Gene had his turn, and Janie will follow, but right now Lucy cracks us up all the time!

Eating jello (unsuccessfully) with a very small spoon, "Mama, frogs jump and jello jumps."

Observing Jane climbing up on my parents' treadmill, "Are you thinking you are going to go running, Janie?"

Eating oatmeal one morning, after talking recently about how eating healthy foods make us grow big and strong. "Mama, I am eating all this good food. And soon I will be eleven."

Randomly, Lucy will comment on what we are having for the next meal, "Oh, _______(fill in the blank with a food)...I love that stuff."