We have mice!!! UGH!!!- Warning, gross story

Okay, so I noticed that a pack of toilet paper that was stored on the floor of my pantry was chewed up and made into a nest. I cleaned that up and told Chris. Before he could buy traps, I had to throw away several packages of food/bread that had been nibbled through. So, I moved all open things into the cabinets.

Now for the catching of the mice. Chris brought home the traps which said to put peanut butter on them. The mice ate the peanut butter WITHOUT setting off the traps! So, I put some cheese on them. Soon we had a mouse! With the light on in the pantry, with us up and around making noise, he was out and about in our PANTRY!! YUCK!!!!! So then, Chris had another type of trap...a glue pad. NEVER, I repeat NEVER buy the glue pads. I knew it looked horrible as soon as I saw them.

A few minutes after I noticed the first mouse, we heard a tap, tap, tap coming from the pantry. I went in to find a glue pad bouncing around the pantry floor with a panicked mouse attached!! What are you supposed to do with that!!!????!! Luckily for us and for the mouse, he bounced himself over to another trap with cheese on it where he tried to get a snack and got himself caught in that trap too, ending his life. DISGUSTING!!!!!!

I have never had mice before. I don't even know how many to expect or how to know when we have all of them! I think we should just move.

Family Worship

We have known many families for a while now who hold family worship. Chris, my husband, has been reading Bible stories to the kids before bed for a long time now, but we haven't ever done anything formal. I will even read a devotional with them during the day, but again, not a formal worship time. Tonight was wonderful!!! Our church website now posts the portion of scripture that will be preached on and the hymns that will be sung the following Sunday. This is perfect!!! Tonight we sang three of the hymns, read the portion of scripture, took prayer requests, prayed, and did a devotion out of  Training Hearts Teaching Minds, by Starr Meade. It wasn't in that order exactly. The hymns were spaced throughout. Tonight we had to gather around the computer in order to read the words to the hymns. I will be printing these off as soon as I buy some more printer ink so that we can stay in our chairs at the table. Also, I hope to purchase several Trinity Hymnals in the future, when possible. I want to continue with these hymns and read this portion of scripture every night this week. Then, in church, hopefully the kids will pick up more of the service since it is familiar to them.

For those who don't know, we go to a reformed, family integrated church. This means that there aren't programs that separate the family. Everyone, birth - elderly sit together, enjoying what each other brings to the worship. No one stares or gawks when your 8 month old squeals out in delight. These are just some of the wonderful sounds of our worship service. If you would like to read more about our church, visit http://www.cogsa.us/.

Tabs-UGH!!!!

Who know how to add tabs to the top of your blog page and then reorganize everything into those tabs? I managed to get one tab under the page gadget. I am so frustrated!!!

New schedule - school

This is the daily plan for our school that I am going to start with and hope it works....

Start together:
*calendar/days of week/month/weather/etc.
*place value chart for # of days
*100 chart
*Bible time
*songs (Mon.-Thurs.)

Then for the next hour or so.....
Girls (independently): Allison-piano, math, read
Ashlynn-math, read, piano
(approx. 20 min. each)
Boys:
read books with me to start
Kevin (independently): piano, math
Kaiden - preschool activities with me

Kevin - Eng. with me
Kaiden - Independent activity

Snack/nurse break (approx. 30 min.)

All together between snack and lunch: (we will have art projects within Geography)
Monday:
Geography and Music

Tuesday:
Geography and Art Appreciation

Wednesday:
Geography and Science (*science will be with our co-op right before the girls have piano @ 12:30pm)

Thursday:
Geography and Music

Friday:
errands and play dates

For the hour or so after lunch chores: (Wed. we will have just come back from science/lunch/piano and will then do quick chores.)

Together - read aloud
Girls - Eng/Grammar/Writing/Spelling with me
Boys - play

2-4 (ish) Rest time

After dinner chores are done:

Family worship at around 6pm

New schedule - laundry

In an attempt at having less waste, we are trying to reduce the amount of paper towels we use. (I use a TON!) I find towels and sponges, etc. disgusting and prefer to feel like I am using a sanitary cloth each time. Alas, I am having to change my ways. So, I am using an idea I got from another blog, which I don't even remember anymore. We will use wash clothes for napkins and the kids are going to make napkin rings for each of us and some for guests. We can start the day with a clean napkin and then, if it hasn't really been used, just put it back in our ring for the next meal. If there is a mess to clean up, or the napkin gets dirty, that person gets a clean one. These wash clothes are blue.

We also have white wash clothes for all of our cleaning and dusting. Once again, I use a lot of paper towels when it comes to cleaning. We will need a lot of these, because I can't stand to use the same cloth twice. The good thing about these, is that they can be bleached. We will have dish clothes to dry dishes that have been hand washed.

So, in order to make this work, here is the laundry schedule:

Wash clothes:
white - every other night with bleach
blue - every other night with the dishtowels
dishtowels - every other night with the blue wash clothes

Towels - Monday
Sheets - Tuesday
Master hamper - Monday and Wednesday
Pantry hamper - Thursday
Upstairs hamper - Tuesday and Friday

*any catch up will be done on Sat.

New schedule - chores

Early Morning Chores (which may be combined with After Breakfast Chores):
*make bed, *get dressed, *brush hair and teeth, *straighten room if necessary

After Breakfast Chores:
Allison (10):
*put the food away
*clear and clean the counters

Ashlynn(8):
*unload dishwasher
*clean breakfast dishes

Kevin(6):
*feed the dogs
*sweep under breakfast table

Kaiden(4):
*clear off and clean the breakfast table

Mom:
*start a load of laundry
*fold and put away wash clothes/dish towels

After Lunch Chores:
Allison(10):
*clear and clean the counters
*get the clothes out of the dryer
*fold and put away clothes

Ashlynn(8):
*put food away
*wipe down the bathrooms (fully clean on Mondays)

Kevin(6):
*rinse and load the dishes
*wipe down the cabinets as needed

Kaiden(4):
*clear and clean the table
*clear off the couches and chairs in living room and straighten pillows

Mom:
*sweep downstairs
*vacuum downstairs seating

After Dinner Chores:
Allison(10):
*dishes
*straighten game room
*straighten bedroom

Ashlynn(8):
*put away food
*clean and clear counters
*straighten living room
*straighten bedroom

Kevin(6):
*sweep under table
*pick up upstairs hallway and bathroom
*straighten bedroom

Kaiden(4):
*clear and clean table
*clear the stairs
*straighten bedroom

Allison turns 10!!!

Allison actually turned 10 while we were on our big trip this summer. She has been celebrating all month! We finally had her party this past weekend and had a blast. She invited some very sweet girls over for a slumber party and everyone had a lot of fun. She also got to get her ears pierced, which made her look so much more grown up!