Underwear Hat

Kids do the craziest things. Let's start with...at what age do they decide it's time to close the door to go potty, that it's no longer socially acceptable to take a dump while the rest of your family occasionally wanders in an out. But even crazy is when you casually walk by and find your kid has his underwear on his head, really!?

I Think I've Managed to Overcome our Homework Struggle

It's been a long time since I've posted I've been trying to figure out how to manage school and the homework struggle. We've been in school for a couple of months now and I think I've finally found the answer to this trick....thank goodness! By week 2 of school I felt like I was walking a tightrope when it came time for homework. If I didn't get it balanced out soon, I was doomed for misery the rest of the school year. I just didn't know what the best way to manage it was. Aidan now in 2nd grade has a significant amount of homework. Despite the fact that it's really extremely easy, more a test of patience for Aidan since he's been doing this stuff since he was 4 yrs old, he still has difficulty getting it done because of the mere fact that it's totally boring. I tried to explain to him how he could get it done in 5 minutes if he would just focus. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to matter to him. The added struggle has been his brothers' distraction. Trying to send them to their room until Aidan is done with his homework proved unsuccessful. Boys get rowdy and Aidan wants to know what they're doing. So, I've started assigning homework (preschool worksheets and art projects) to Miles and Liam so they are doing homework along side Aidan. In the beginning there were a few objections from Liam " Homework, why do I have to do homework!?" Most recently, they've fallen into the groove and know the drill now. They sit together and do their homework. Aidan gets to focus and get his work done, with a little bit of struggle, giggling and joking, as well as correcting his brothers homework (have to remind him that's not his responsibility). With a bit of redirecting homework gets done, not as quickly as I would hope but it's coming along. The only problem now, is homework for three just means I'm getting pulled in 3 directions at once "Mommy how do you this? Mommy Is this right? Mom why do I have to do this?". Which clearly I know this is what my future holds once they're all in school but I'm just not ready for it now. Or maybe I will never be, so I need to figure out how to balance this out so I can make it across that tightrope in one piece, with my sanity.

Rules of the Wrap

I know I've said it many times but I really enjoy wrapping presents...there's just so many possibilities that makes it so much fun. But there's a few rules I like to follow when I wrap a kids gift. Especially, when you're wrapping a toddlers to let's say 4 yrs old, young kids just love bright colors. So, I try to wrap with fun brightly colored patterns and if there's more than one item I wrap them separately in coordinating wrap. Why wrap it all up in one box when visually you can make it feel so much more grand for them. If you're thinking for green reasons, there's so many possibilities that are still earth friendly. Repurposed papers such as Sunday comics, old maps and children's art work, gift wrap made from recycled paper or even fabrics that can be reused/repurposed. Be creative, if their birthday is in the summer you could use a bright colored beach towel...you get the idea. Same goes for the ribbon. Some of my favorites are raffia (comes in so many colors), grosgrain and satin ribbon that can always be reused for something else. I try to stay away form the plastics, curling ribbons and bows that end up in our land fills and harming birds. Why just slap a bow on it when you can embellish it with so many other fun items whether it's pretty ribbon, or another fun little toy.



This age is also around the time when kids start to recognize their name in print and get so excited when they see it. For this reason, I love to make sure I tag the gift with their name in large print. What's more exciting for a little kid than receiving a fun colored package that has there name on it? Well I guess maybe opening it! Yippee! I usually just use a shipping tag that I embellish with stickers, stamps, or markers. When you make your own tags, it's so much more personal, made for that specific individual, you can't get more personal than that.


So those are just a few of the things I keep in mind when wrapping a gift. Most importantly, have fun with it, you can't wrong when it's your own creation.

6 Kids To Watch

Today I watched Rachel's kids while she went to her chiropractor appointment. Her kids are the same age as mine, so that means I watched two 5 yr olds (Parker will be five soon) and 4 soon to be 3 yr olds. Yes six kids total 5 and under. I know it sounds a bit daunting and I have to admit I was a bit nervous. Mostly about what happens if they decide they're bored, at least that's when my own really start to act out, bored or overly tired. So I got myself prepared with a couple of art projects, some large plastic beads for necklaces and some paper crowns for decorating. Surprisingly, all went well, I only had to pull out the beads, they played with that for awhile, then the boys played Legos (more about that later) while the girls entertained themselves hanging out in Miles bed with a doctor kit taking each others temp, blood pressure and listening to heart beats (very cute). Eventually they all went outside to play while I started dinner. Everything was pleasant up until dinner time (Rachel was back at that point), taco nite, then the tantrums started, mostly my own kids or lets say kid. All in all not too bad.