Playing hooky

We are so busy with sports right now... it makes me appreciate the "boring" times of my life when the busy things in my day are cleaning house and taxiing kids.

The other day, the schedule dictated a grab-and-go dinner and cars headed to two practices at the same time. (Of course the other kiddos are dragged along helter-skelter). As I set out dinner we decided to relax and not worry about being a little late. Sitting down at the table as a family was so much nicer than the "eat as you can" at the park, that I had planned. Then the daddy and I made a decision. We were going to play hooky.

Instead of scattering for practices, we took our kids to a nearby school and had a family practice. The smallest of the small sat on a blanket or crawled toward any ball that was in sight. The other smalls played catch with the mommy or had batting practice with the daddy. Balls were flying and kids were scampering hither and yon... often running to third base instead of first in the confusion and glory of hitting the ball further than they thought they could.  It was so much more fun than splitting up for practices! And my boys got more personal coaching attention than they would have at practice. (We encourage our children to fulfill commitments and to follow through with the activities they've sighed up for). But this was one of those... "family time is more important" moments. And it was great!

Super window cleaning... seriously this is awesome!

I just found something so awesome that I had to share it! Bar Keepers Friend (the cleaner) and a scratchy pad gets hard (HARD) water off windows!

(Back story)... I have REALLY hard water!!!! When we moved in, the basement windows of our home were so caked with hard water that you don't even need blinds. (No, seriously. I don't).  I have tried just about everything that anyone could suggest. It has been really frustrating!

I was giving it another shot this spring cleaning season. I had done even more research and was giving it more elbow grease than I knew was humanly possible... that's when I got the inspiration! My sister had just introduced me to a cleaner called "The Barkeeper's Friend." (Fabulous for bathrooms and kitchens by the way). I tried it on a little section of the window to see if it would scratch it.... Oh man! It worked AMAZING! The basement windows are taking a lot more scrubbing than the windows that the sprinkler only hits now and then... but this stuff is awesome! I actually thought we were going to have to replace those windows because of the hard water. I have been dancing around since I cleaned them... every time I see my windows. (As you can see, I'm a little excited about this! La-la-la... clean windows... La-la-la! Oh, and singing too).

DISCLAIMER: I am not a professional window cleaner and therefore you can not hold me responsible if this product damages your windows... It didn't seem to scratch mine... but you're on your own with yours.

"Some of my favorite things..."

Some things are so nice to start your day!
Waking up while the house is still quiet.
Hearing the soft sighs of the peaceful sleep of childhood.
Sunshine pouring in my window.
Family breakfast time.
IHOP pancakes recipe and homemade coconut syrup.

Have a happy Tuesday!

I'm trying to be like Jesus... No I am!

My boys are boys. Which means, at times they try to work out their differences but punching each another.  It is not my favorite thing to see and I'd like to raise kind, understanding, good children. So this afternoon, when the boys started socking each other in the shoulder because someone took the last of the ranch they were sharing... I calmly encouraged each boy to be the first to act like Jesus. (Meaning, be the first to stop hitting).  

A few more punches were exchanged before one boy scooted too far away for the reciprocating punch to be easily returned. At which point he said, "I was the first to act like Jesus!" At which the other retorted, "No! I was the first to act like Jesus!"
"No. I was!
"Nuh uh! I was!"

This is when I mentally sigh. Not exactly how I meant for things to turn out!

Whoopee!

As a matter of course, whoopee cushions are rude. So when my boys got to pick a prize at the dentist office, I tried to discourage my six-year-old from picking that pink pillow of puff passing. He had seen one at a friends house, so knew what it was and REALLY wanted it.

I was talking him out of it, when I thought, "He's a boy... why not? He can either make the noises naturally or use a toy. Both will get a rise out of me and cause fits of laughter. One will smell better than the other." So I stopped being a stick in the mud and told him to grab it. 

Little did I realize that a little piece of pink rubber would cause so much joy and family togetherness. The boys and I sat in the car for five minutes laughing till our sides hurt. After school, the four older children spent  the afternoon planning how to "get daddy" with the new toy. The dinner hour was filled with fits of laughter as their plan was carried out. The silliness has worn off a little this week, so I'm not heartbroken than the whoopee cushion has a hole and will soon go to that playground in the sky. But it was fun/funny while it lasted. In the mean time there have been lots of jokes and lots of false "Oh excuse ME" going on around here. I'm glad that most of the family has taken in with style and at least they say "excuse me." Ha!

Building forts and memories

One of my favorite things about childhood (and there are a lot) was that we had unrestricted access to the wood pile, cans of nails and lots of my dad's tools. We always had amazing visions of what we were going to build. The forts were going to be architectural masterpieces, the gifts for mom were going to be of unforgettable craftsmanship, and the weapons were going to cause siblings to run for cover.

Well, the forts were unique. I'm sure the gifts for mom were unforgettable, and the wooden swords were very successful. All in all, we had a wonderful time building what ever our little hearts desired. Most of the time my dad would lend a hand to make sure our tree houses weren't going to fall out of the tree and our swords didn't have nails sticking out of them. I loved building with dad!

The other day, my little boy decided he needed to build something. I had things to do so I suggested he start by building a prototype out of Popsicle sticks and toothpicks. He was OK with that until his little brother smashed his prototype. That's when he bagged the model and headed to the garage. A few minutes later I heard the sweet sound of a hammer hitting a nail. (He had grabbed some scrap lumber, some nails and a small hammer to build his "fort.") The sound brought all those fun memories back and I chuckled every time I checked his progress.

After ten minutes of hammering, the nail he'd been working on was still in the same position. I told him he was doing great when he asked for help. (He had kindergarten in an hour and I didn't want to start something we couldn't finish). Unsatisfied with my answer, he said, "I'm going to ask Dennis." (Our neighbors are a retired couple who our children adore. The husband can fix ANYTHING). So Dennis came over to "play." Forty minutes later, after following my son's directions and only applying a little advice for safety sake, they had a fort.

It was so hard for my little man to quit building to go to school! I helped him a little after school, the neighbor came back and my husband helped him add more over the weekend. For a six-year-old architect, it was a pretty cool fort! I loved watching my little boy and his daddy out there together with their hammers.

Spring + cleaning

I really don't enjoy spring cleaning! Its like finding out that your house, that you thought was clean.... isn't.
But, it does feel good to look back at the room that I totally tore apart to clean all the nooks and crannies (that no one looks at anyway) and although it looks almost the same as when I started... at least I know it's really clean. (I'm trying to convince myself).

Actually this is probably the most I have enjoyed spring cleaning in a long time because my friend and I are doing it together. We both have the same house plan and are similar in our cleaning habits so this is working out to be fun. We are secure enough in our friendship that we are letting each other scrub those nasty corners and baseboards. Now that is a good friend!

I have talked about doing this with a lot of friends... but this is the first time I have followed through. We have    already spent a day at each house. Things are starting to shine and we are pooped... but it's like everyone's grandma says, "Many hands make light work."

Happy Spring cleaning!