The end of an era?

Well, I did it. 

 On a whim.  

I did not plan to do this at the beginning of the day.

I've been working my way through the house this week and "spring cleaning" a room at a time.

During the normal course of the school year, deep cleaning does not happen around here.

Oh, we get the surface scum and vacuum up the big chunks every day.

But moving furniture, cleaning ceiling fans, re-painting walls.......not happening.

So today I was in the girls room.

It's always a disaster in there.

No amount of yelling, chore charts, dividing up into their own "areas," has ever improved the situation in there.

But when you have 4 girls from 12 years old down to 2 sharing a room, it's really hard to keep it spotless.

Unless you're the Duggars.....which we obviously are not.

I get in the room this afternoon and start moving dressers and the bunkbed around.

We vacuum up an entire bag full of junk around the baseboards and under the furniture.

Then I get to the crib.

Our youngest is exactly 29 months old today!!

She rarely sleeps in it now anyway.

She tends to like to climb out of the crib and into one of the other beds where a sister already is.

Even at nap time now, she prefers a big bed.

So I did it.

I unassembled the crib and moved it out of the room entirely.

I had mixed emotions about that.

I was excited to get the process moving of putting another set of bunkbeds in that room so each daughter actually has a spot of her own to sleep in (though they will probably STILL crawl in with another sister before the night is through.)

I was happy to have more space in that room that is a bit tight right now.

But I was a little sad to think that we might have to throw that crib out.

I remember shopping with my husband for that crib 13 years ago.

I remember when we first set it up, and when we moved our first baby out of our room and into that crib.

That crib has bedded 6 babies, 4 girls and 2 boys.

It still has life in it, though it has definitely seen better days.

We had to have it repaired somewhere around baby #5, and still parts are falling off.

But it's still so pretty to me.

I'm fighting this urge to store it away somewhere "just in case".  

You never know.

Observations of the ADHD child on summer break

Man, oh, man.  

Just when I thought I had the hang of this thing called ADHD, wouldn't ya know it......

SUMMER BREAK comes along.

I mean, we've got a good handle on working with medication, Intuniv, new to us in January.

When I began reading everywhere that a change in diet could POSSIBLY give even better results in managing his behavior and responses to everything in the world around him, I began dropping certain ingredients from our diet.

BINGO!!

What a dramatic improvement.

So much so, that I even consulted with his doctor about scaling back a bit on his dose of Intuniv

(we're up to 3 mg. now.)

But then the weather changed....it got REALLY hot.

Schoolwork was completed.

A more relaxed summer schedule full of fun activity indoors and out has been implemented.

I'm LOVIN' it!!

We're having so much fun.

But WOW, has my son's hyperactivity ramped UP!!
Have you noticed that in the last bunch of pictures you didn't see ANY of my oldest son?
That's because I can't find him still enough for long enough to snap a picture of him!!

I forgot that with Vacation Bible School every day comes highly processed snacks.

Snacks full of Red #40 (Hawaiian Punch, doritos, cheetos, skittles, candy).

Snacks full of Yellow #5.

Snacks full of high fructose corn syrup.

Snacks full of MSG.

So, not only have we a CHANGE in activity and daily routine,

but we have a CHANGE in diet (and not in a great way.)

Change + processed food = Super extreme hyperactive son

I've noticed that in the last week and a half he wakes up and hits the floor running.....every morning.

He runs and slams into someone's bed.

He runs into another room.

He runs around the schoolroom table.

He is jumping on the unsuspecting sibling and wrestling them to the ground (which of course they LOVE.....not!)

He has diarrhea of the mouth when he is reprimanded for this constant running around,

and is responding very disrespectfully and inappropriately to my husband and I. 

BUT, he is still able to play with his friends without getting upset and crying,

and he is doing fine in making new friends at each new VBS he is attending.

I'm so thankful that we didn't change the dose of his medication,

because I'm sure we wouldn't be seeing ANYTHING positive in his behavior AT ALL

with all the new stuff going on.

And actually, some of that has even calmed down a tiny bit since we're a couple weeks into our summer.

I'm hoping that after another week or two, 

he'll take less time to settle down in the morning,

and we'll see even less of this craziness as it feels more normal to him.

Of course, by then it will be time to get the school schedule up and going again.....

What we've been up to!!

Sorry I haven't been posting as frequently here lately, but summer is upon us and we're so busy enjoying our time together!!  Enjoy a few peeks into what we've been up to...

Slushies and playtime with friends!

Potty training!!!

Helping Mommy with over due "spring cleaning"

Vacation Bible School

Accidentally napping

  

Just had to share....

I've just finished looking around this new blog and I have to say that I'm really excited about it.

It looks really beautiful, and seems to be hosted by ladies who are like-minded in raising their daughters to be God-honoring wives and mothers!!

If you have little "ladies" skipping and dancing around your house,

you might enjoy visiting them!

Click on the link to the right in the sidebar to visit them.

Summer Reading

We've been really enjoying a variety of children's books here as a part of the Summer Reading Program at our library. I didn't know how much FUN those books on tape really are. Very engaging! Here is a tiny sampling of some of our favorites:

Summer developmental goals for children

Summertime is here and I couldn't be more thrilled!! I have such lovely memories of summer break from school and swimming, and bike riding through the country side, mowing the lawn on the riding lawn mower, endless hours helping can produce from our enormous garden, the cool breeze rustling the shades through the open windows, and laying on the floor in front of the fan to keep cool on those hottest of summer days.

But summer time is also a GREAT opportunity to work on those areas of our children's lives that sometimes get a bit overlooked during the rest of the schoolyear. Because we homeschool, there are so many things that contribute to the busyness of the household, that some areas just get pushed to the bottom of the priority list.

So instead of having endless hours with nothing to do, endless hours that WILL get filled with fighting and bickering, endless hours that will drive mom to the edge of insanity, I have chosen to concentrate on a few things that need attention and we will incorporate them in a fun way into each day.

I went again to the book I mentioned in a previous post, A Mother's Manuel for Summer Survival, and reaquainted myself with this chart!

In Luke 2:52 we read:

And Jesus increased in:

1. Wisdom (Intellectually)

2. Stature (Physically)

3. In favor with God (Spiritually)

4. In favor with man (Socially)

This chart will help me plan some fun things for each of my children to help them develop in the areas listed above. I'm asking myself, "Where do I want each of my children to be in each of these areas by the time school starts back up again?"

I'm thinking of things like: swimming skills, riding bikes, potty training, scripture memory, reading more books than sitting in front of the TV, learning better ways to handle the irritations of siblings than hitting or throwing things (yes, I'm sure that happens at your house too?), art camp, soccer camp, summer church camp, learning how to work for the things they want to do, math skills, handwriting skills, etc.

What do you do with your children to help expand their spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social development?

Summer service opportunities and jobs for kids!!

Several years before I was even married, I bought this book.

I loved it when I first heard of it,

and it still gives me great ideas for keeping the children busy during the summer in profitable endeavors!!

Here are a few ideas the authors give for summer jobs appropriate for children:

1. Baby-sit

2. Bake and sell homemade cookies and bread

3. Clean houses or move furniture (obviously meant for older ones)

4. Clean swimming pools

5. Clear away old junk and trash

6. Clip and organize coupons in envelopes for Mom. Let the children

keep the refunds.

7. Hold a garage sale

8. Mow lawns (again obviously for older ones)

9. Produce a backyard carnival and sell tickets for the games and refreshments.

10. Publish a neighborhood newspaper.

11. Pull weeds

12. Sweep porches and driveways

13. Pet sit

14. Car wash

15. Teens could tutor younger children in reading.

16. Wash windows

17. Water plants and yards for vacationing families

What we did last year and continue to do this year is to sell candy bars door-to-door as well as in businesses. We buy the box of mixed candy (Snickers bars, 3 Musketeers, M &M's, etc) at Costco which has 30 bars to the box. Our cost is approximately $.50 a bar, and we sell them for a dollar a bar.

I could NOT believe how much candy the neighbors on our street bought from my children!!!

My husband takes a couple boxes (or 4 ) to the police station and sets them out in the break room with a little sign explaining what we are doing.

Believe me.....police officers eat their fair share of Snickers bars too!!

This year, we asked my mother-in-law to take a couple boxes to her office and we were shocked at how generous the folks were there. Several people gave lovely donations without buying any candy!

We are praying together as a family for opportunities for the children to earn some of their money. The other day an elderly couple we know who live on the next street over remembered Lexi was selling candy to earn her way to camp. They called us up and asked if Lexi would like to earn some money by watering their flowers for them while they are on vacation!! She is just DELIGHTED by that!!

We're also thinking about the garage sale idea too, and selling sodas and candy for a dollar along with some homemade goodies. Those things always go over great in our area!!!

What have you done in the past to encourage your children to learn how to work and to earn some of the money for camp or other trips?