My Menu for this week...

Lunch

Mac and Cheese
Tortilla Pizzas
Leftovers
Sandwiches


Dinner

Beef Stew, biscuits, salad and fruit
BBQ chicken, rice, and salad
Crockpot Beef sandwiches and salad
Crockpot Chicken Spaghetti, rolls and salad or fruit
Beef Stroganoff and salad
Porkchops, noodles, and salad


This week and this past weekend so far I've cleaned two out of three bathrooms, including scrubbing the floors, cleaned Jon's room (ugh.), cleaned most of the house, fed the baby 3.65 million times, went grocery shopping for the first time since Sophia arrived, worked on the laundry (which is taking forever because I didn't realize that the kids had used some of my good towels and then I washed them and got oil in my brand new washing machine. ugh.), and decluttered a few more areas in the house. My plans include for the rest of the week; finishing the laundry, making two crockpot meals that are doubled so I can freeze half, rearranging both little bedrooms in hopes of making those rooms easier to find things in, and picking out a good color paint for Jon's room/school room. I'm thinking blue, but may go with green. LOL We'll have to see how much I really get done. Sophia is getting a little fussy lately and I'm wondering if it's something I'm eating or just a phase. I've had to spend a lot of time bicycling her legs and bouncing her. Some days, that's all I accomplish in a day.lol Also, I'm only getting about 5 hours of severely interrupted sleep lately and it's wearing on me. I'm getting tired and cranky. Well, at least I already know that sleep is for wimps.LOL I'm doing o.k. though and I'm choosing JOY in all things.

I was given a real blessing at church yesterday. I had the woman in charge of the youth in church come and tell me that Allison is a real blessing and an amazing young lady. I also had the pastor write on her confirmation paper that her paper was excellent and honest. Sometimes, you NEED outside confirmation that your kids are turning out o.k. and what a timely moment! I've really been worrying about my older kids lately and wondering if they would ever be anything or do well in "real life" and this was just what I needed. I'll post her paper in a separate post.

Well, that's it for now. This has been the only time today when Sophia hasn't been fussy and I don't want to spend the whole time on the computer. Time is precious when you don't have much to spare.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

I spent all day yesterday cleaning. What a mess my house has gotten into! I worked on my neglected closet, putting away all my maternity clothes and putting things on the top shelf that I couldn't reach the last few months of pregnancy. I can finally walk into my walk-in closet again! I also did the laundry. Now that I've used my washer for 3 wash sessions I can finally say that I like it.LOL It has cut my laundry in half because I can shove so much into the new washer. I also like how clean everything is. The wash times are longer but I'm only doing about 5 loads a day so it isn't too bad. The dryer is drying things MUCH faster also.

I decluttered the dining room today. That's our school room right now and it really needs cleaned at least once a week but I just didn't have the energy so it was pretty cluttered. We are moving the school stuff upstairs to Jon's room in a few weeks so my dining room should be easier to keep up after that. Speaking of Jon's room...ugh! I went up there for the first time in MONTHS and was horrified!!! I just couldn't climb those stairs during the last half of my pregnancy and Jon knew it and pretty much destroyed his room. We are taking everything except his dresser and bed away from him and will use the extra space as a class room for the older kids so that they will have a quiet place to study. Seriously, he destroyed the room. We are going to spend the next 2 weeks cleaning out the room, repainting it, and cleaning the carpet. We are also going to need to re-caulk the bathroom. It'll make a nice classroom though. We are going to purchase three small desks and a new computer for upstairs. That way the kids can do their work up there uninterrupted by little ones. Allison, especially, has had a hard time concentrating with the little ones around and I think this may be the best thing to do.

Basically, my plan is to concentrate on different parts of the house until everything is back in order. Then I'll start our school back up and concentrate on just spending time with my little ones. Eric is going to be waking the older kids up at 6am and they will begin their school work by 7 and hopefully finish by 12. I'm hoping that this will give us plenty of time in the afternoon for extra curricular activities. Allison wants to continue everything that she's currently doing and I'd like to get Jon involved in SOMETHING in the next few weeks. I'm thinking Tae Kwon Do. He's getting to the age where he really needs physical activity daily. Of course the next 2 weeks he'll be cleaning and redoing his room...ugh.

Well, got to go. Sophia is calling for me.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this week...

Lunch

Homemade Pizza
Ramen
Mac and Cheese
PBJ's


Dinner

Ham, Greenbean, and Potato Soup
Pasta Carbonara w/salad
Turkey Noodle Soup w/Dumplings
Steak, baked potatoes, and salad
Leftovers

I'm going to make smoothies all week this week, serve fresh fruit with breakfast and lunch and a veggie tray for lunch or snack.


My Goals for this week...

Include:

making sure the older kids finish their school work each day
getting up on time and getting everyone ready on time
getting the shopping done by myself this week since I didn't get it done on the weekend
starting school with Evie today


I think that's about it for this week. With most of us sick, it should be quite the accomplishment to get this all done each day.lol So far, we got up and ready on time this morning, I've made my grocery list, and the kids are right on schedule for their school day. Yippeee! After shopping, I'll begin school with Evie and give Isaac some arts and crafts to do and I'll have one day down and three to go. lol

Blessings,

Lisa

I have gotten so much done today! I love it when I have the energy to go the extra distance.lol So far I've;

Done half the wash.

Thoroughly cleaned my bathroom, including the gigantic tub and shower, and swept and mopped.(Here's a cleaning hint: use a mop to scrub your tubs and showers. No bending required!)

Changed my sheets, cleaned my room, and vaccumed.

Went grocery shopping! The bill was much better and I think you all were right. Nothing was on sale last week and it made things much worse.lol


The kids have:

Worked on school work.

Allison cleaned her bathroom and the great room, including vaccuming.

Jon cleaned the dining room, including vaccuming, and helped put all the groceries away.

Genevieve and Isaac made messes.lol


I stilll need to finish all the wash, do the ironing, wash the containers I took out of the fridge, make dinner, and then I'll call it a day. The kids need to finish up their school work and tidy their rooms. The youngers need to quit making messes.lol

My only real goal for this week is to finish the Christmas shopping. I just couldn't get it all done last week. OH, and I need to make that dressing! The kids ate all the bacon, so I had to wait until I went shopping in order to make it.lol I also need to mail out my Christmas cards and calendars sometime this week. I've decided to wait until next year to do a letter. Really, if someone wanted to know what's going on in my life they could just come here.lol

Blessings,

Lisa

My goals for the week...

One of my goals for this week was to get the house back together from the long weekend but the kids and I whipped that out this morning so I'll just check that as done.

Next on my list was the Christmas Photo. I'm still printing them all out and hope to have at least ONE photo that can be used. If not, then we'll try again tomorrow.lol I'm hoping that we'll have one good enough. I think two are promising but I really like to look at the hard copies before deciding.

Finish the Calendar! It has to be completed by Thursday for the discount. We're up to September and I think we can whip out those last few months today and tomorrow.

Finish most of my Christmas shopping by this weekend. I like to leave the little things, like stocking stuffers for the last minute but I usually have all my regular shopping done before Thanksgiving, except for this year. I really would like to have this done! I'll let you all know if this goal was accomplished or not.lol

A related goal would be to finish the Christmas list this week also. One of the reasons Isaac has too much for Christmas this year is that instead of having a list I've just been buying things that I thought he'd like or were cute.lol Without a list my budget can get broken easily! We're going cash only this year and I don't want to break the bank this year. In all of our marriage, we've never had a Christmas that we could afford. This is going to be that year! It would be such a blessing to not have to pay for these gifts for the next year and not be able to save anything for next year. We've already run into some snags but I'm just going to have a talk with the older kids, give them our budget and then let them do some re-accessing of their major wants this year.

I also need to sometime in the next week or two, try to figure out how we will fit everyone into my van.lol I need to get the new baby's carseat out and see how this is going to work. If it isn't going to work, then I need to try out the carseats in the Expedition. I really hope everyone fits in the van. I just don't like driving anything bigger. I'm majorly intimidated!lol I always feel like I'm taking more than my fair share of the road and that I'm going to take the side off someone's car or maybe their mailbox or maybe even a PERSON while driving that thing.lol This vehicle is a blessing and I may just have to get over the whole driving a tank thing but I'm REALLY hoping I can squeeze everyone into my little mini van. I mean, it SAYS it fits 7 people, right?!?!lol Eric really feels that I need to move up to the tank...lol but I don't remember it saying any where that everyone has to be comfortable...lol

Well, those are my goals. I have the basic stuff in my mind also, like laundry and such but these are the things that most need to get done on top of my regular duties. Have a great day!

Lisa

My Goals for this week...

Survive.lol

Ok, so I'm hoping for a little more than survival but it's a good place to start.

1.Deep clean the house. I'm already working on this and feeling a little overwhelmed. I'm going through each room, decluttering and cleaning. Not on the scale of Emily, (I doubt my baseboards will ever get a washcloth.lol) but really trying to make the house shine this holiday season. I hope to have most of my cleaning done by Tuesday night. Of course I'll need to do some surface cleaning before my guests arrive on Thursday but I don't want to still be cleaning heavy by then.

2.We are in the process of making the traditional photo calendar. It needs to be completed by November 30th to get the sale price from Snapfish. We figured out how to make collages with Photoshop and then only upload the one picture to the snapfish site. It's very hard work but Allison and I know how much it means to the extended family. Usually, we can only get up to 4 photos on a calendar page, but using photoshop, we can make a huge collage with many pictures and it only counts as one photo. We think the grandparents will like the new look.

3.Baking, baking, baking! I need to begin baking by Wednesday but would like to start on Tuesday if my cleaning is almost done. If I can start on Tuesday, I'll make all the cookie dough that day and then do the actual baking on Wed. Most of the cookie recipes need to be refridgerated so it would be great to have them done a day ahead of time. I also need to bake the pie since I won't have room for it on Thursday.

4.Thanksgiving! We're having our guests over at 5pm and I would like to have the house decorated by then. We usually decorate the tree and house on Thanksgiving so it would be nice if they all got to see how nice the house looks. This will be Isaac's first Christmas where he'll be old enough to get into trouble, uh, I mean "enjoy" the season.lol So I need to do some planning or this could become a disaster.

5.Take time to help the kids finish their lapbook. I would really like for them to accomplish this goal, although it may be hard with everything that needs to be done. I'm still going to give it a try.lol

I guess that's it for now. I'm sure that there are things that I've forgotten but I really need to get going! The first thing on my list is grocery shopping...

Lisa

My Menu for this week...

Lunch

Mac and Cheese
Chicken nuggets
Fish Sticks
Chicken soup
sandwiches


Dinner

Roast beef w/potatoes, carrots, onions and salad
Grilled Chicken w/rice, grilled asparagus, and salad
Taco Stuff
Ham and Bean soup w/french bread and salad
Baked potato bar w/shrimp scampi and salad


Salad is the theme of the week.lol I'm going to try to incorporate more veggies into our diets by adding a salad to each meal. I'm also going to continue adding a smoothie day at least 2x this week.

I really haven't done much this weekend. I've just been trying to feel better from this sinus infection and the antibiotics are taking their time in healing me.lol The kids had their game yesterday and I was told that it was a real nail-biter. They lost in double overtime but the kids said it was probably the best game they've even played in. I love that even though they lost, they still came home excited and happy about the game. I think the Y has really helped all the kids to just play and enjoy instead of being upset or worried about who's winning. Good job, Y!

I'll have to give my goals for this week some thought. I'm hoping I'll feel better soon and then I'll be ready to do alot more than I can right now. Well, I guess I know what my main goal will be...getting better so that I can take better care of my family.lol As is, for now, I'll be happy if I can get in my house-keeping and a game day this next week. I also want to accomplish more preschool with the littles this week. I've got some things printed out, so I'll just use those until I'm feeling better, then I'll go out and copy some more.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!

Lisa

One of my goals for this week was beginning preschool with the littles today. After two temper tantrums from Genevieve and one from Isaac, I can safely say that we did preschool today.LOL We worked on the letter A and did a theme of Apples and Ants. I had a book that I bought from Kate from www.handsandhearts.com called Jumbo Fun with the Alphabet and I primarily used this today. Evie had a good time learning about apples and ants today. First we started our Alphabet Caterpillar with the letter A, then we put an apple together and I cut open an apple so that she could see what it looked like inside. I cut up the apple and that was her snack. We read the book The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons. We learned how to draw an ant and we drew them going up and down an ant hill. Then I brought out the paints and had Evie paint her own apple tree and ant. She used a lot of creative license in her drawing.lol We did a couple of other activities in the book that Eric copied for me on Sunday and then I ran out of things to do! Yikes! She's so gung ho that we tore through all that in less than an hour. She kept asking for more but I finally called a recess and let them in the back yard.lol My desperate hope is that some of my books that I reserved at the library will be in soon. I may have to do more than one letter a week just to keep her happy, which means Isaac will not be able to keep up. I guess that'll be o.k. it's not rocket science and the review from the books should help Evie to remember what she learns. My plan was to use this book along with the on-line curriculum from http://www.letteroftheweek.com/ to give her more to do but it looks like it still won't be enough. I'm thinking about joining http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html to fill in her learning. I'm really surprised that I'm having this problem. When I tried preschool with her a few months ago she just couldn't keep her attention on anything, now I have the opposite problem.LOL Tomorrow we are going to do the Letter of the Week curriculum and also Little Hands to Heaven day one and two. I still want to go slow and let her guide me in how much to do each day. I'm thinking she may slow down once we establish a routine. We'll see. Isaac was happy to just go with the flow. He liked the markers the most and has the stripes to show for it.lol

While I was running around like a crazy person trying to keep these two busy, my older kids started a fresh week of school themselves. I checked their work from the last two weeks early this morning, then wrote out their schedules for this week. I'm having some accountability problems with the kids lately. It's really discouraging but I'm hanging in there. When the littles were sick two weeks ago, the older kids just quit working even though I didn't take them from their work. I really think they did it because they knew I was focused on the littles and they figured they could get away with it. Now they are paying the piper and it isn't fun for any of us. I'm really tired of these games.

I am trying to find a balance between home and school, littles and big, inside and outside activities, really, life in general.lol I've got the house figured out, now for the kids.lol

Well, that's it for now. I'm making QB's porkchops right now and I'm starving! I'll let you all know how they turn out.

Blessings,

Lisa

Today has been a very relaxed day. The older kids are recooperating, so we took the day just to straighten up and get the house under control. We went through each room just picking up the general clutter that had taken over while I've been sick. It really wasn't too bad, which makes me think that the habits are forming in the kids. I got some laundry done and I made homemade waffles for breakfast and homemade pizza for lunch. I am so glad that I did my shopping last Friday but I think that the kids are getting tired of what's left over after a whole week's time.lol I'm going to try to run by the store today after I drop off the older kids at football practice. I would normally make them stay home because they are just getting over this illness but tonight is picture day so they really need to show up.

Genevieve is starting to get cabin fever from the 2 weeks she's been stuck at home, so she's been a bit of a handful today. Isaac's fever finally broke and he's as cantankous as he normally is while ill. lol It made for a good day off, just to focus on resting and finally getting rid of this horrible illness.

I'm hoping to make it to the office supply store this weekend so that I can get some lapbooking supplies. Also, I'm thinking of making a "Good Noodle" chart like on Spongebob. I'm going to glue uncooked noodles to a poster board for each good decision/or job made or done by Genevieve and Jon. I'm thinking Allison is too old and Isaac is too young but will leave room for him as he gets older. I really like the idea of focusing on the positive, instead of always reacting to the negative. This idea comes from De'Etta. It's taken me a while to get to the chart because I've never been a chart kind of person but what I'm realizing is that my two in the middle are very goal oriented and I think this will help them. I want the lapbooking supplies for Evie and Isaac. I'm also going to start more preschool with each of them. I've been waiting for a certain book but Amazon keeps pushing back the estimated delivery time and I'm just going to start without it.LOL So, my plan is to get a lot of copies run off of things I do have and really get started this next week. Evie especially needs this, she's been bored lately and that's never good.lol

Now that my home is where I want it to be, I'm going to be focusing a lot more on the kids. I'm going to be adding in a game day to make sure that we spend enough fun time together, just incorporating fun into our day. Evie's been playing chutes and ladders and candy land lately and is really enjoying those games, it made me realize she isn't so little any longer. That really opens up a lot of options in games and such. I'm thinking we'll play out the games we have and I'll stock up on some for Christmas.

I guess that's about it for now. I have to admit that I'm still sick so probably am not making much sense right now but would like to get these ideas down so that I can remember them.lol I am really looking forward to a normal week next week. Just to have the kids well and healthy will be a real blessing.

Lisa

I'm facing my first test. Energy was at an all time low this weekend and now I have to decide. Do I throw up my hands in disgust and throw in the towel, saying that I just can't keep up with the demands of this household? Or do I rally the troops and face this mess that I allowed to happen over the weekend? In the past, this wouldn't have been a question. I would have reconciled myself to the fact that no one could keep up with these kids and, really, why should I? They're just going to mess it up again. I would have told myself that I didn't stay home to have a picture perfect house, I stayed home so that I could homeschool the kids! So what if it took us 3 hours to find our math books or that we didn't quite get to science because I couldn't remember where I put the supplies for this week. I mean, science isn't THAT important.LOLOL I WAS tempted this morning but I guess God has been working on me because I am rallying the troops and will tame this beast of a house back into what we NEED it to be. An orderly, peaceful, inviting home to live in, where I'm not afraid of drop-in visitors or door to door salespersons.LOL

Goals for this week:

1. Get the laundry under control. I have at least 5 loads to do today and I need to make sure that I work on it Friday so that Monday won't be so much.

2. Make sure that each room gets a once over each day.

3. I need to make playdough and bread this week.

4. Give both bathrooms a deep cleaning.

5. Mop all hard floors.

I guess that's all. I need to keep it low key for this week. Genevieve's not feeling well today and I need to focus on the kids this week. I think that I can get all this done but my focus will be taking care of my children. I don't plan on making progress this week, just going to try to keep up.LOL I best get started making those smoothies, since I've already got illness in the house.

Blessings,

Lisa

My Menu for this Week...

Lunch

We are going to mostly do sandwiches this week. I bought a variety of meat and cheeses, mayo, lettuce, and I found some wonderful ripe tomatoes. Yum! If someone gets tired of the fare, we have on hand Mac and Cheese, Ramen, and one last can of Beef Stew.LOL

Dinner

Heavenly Chicken
Baked Salmon with rice and veggies
Hamburgers, french fries, and veggie tray (This is the third try.lol)
Grilled Chicken, rice and veggies
Spaghetti, garlic bread and salad
Grilled steak, baked potatoes and spaghetti squash


We made it to BJ's yesterday and I nearly wore myself out.lol I walked all the way to the back of the store and wasn't sure I could make it back to the car. I ended up spending the rest of the day laying down. Boy, the rigors of pregnancy!LOL

Today we got the regular shopping done while the three older kids went with their grandma to a Fall Festival being held by our little town. Afterwards, grandma's taking the older two to their football practice and will spend some time with Genevieve.

I think I'm entering the tired phase of my pregnancy. It's amazing how little I can do and still be very tired.LOL At least the big stuff is done for the week and I can always scale back my organizing to fit my new energy level.

My new goals for this season will be focusing on the kids. Now that we are entering the cold and flu season, I need to step up the nutrition for my kids health. We need to stay healthy this year. Jon has not been handling illness well since the move and I need to make sure that I'm doing all that I can to keep him healthy. Also, Isaac's next surgery is next month and I need him to stay healthy for it. He only gets them every three months so he really can't miss one due to illness. So I'm going to make sure I make smoothies at least 3x a week. I've bumped up the fresh fruit and will be making healthier breakfasts in the morning. I'm going to get more fresh veggies into their diet during lunch and will continue to make healthy meals for dinner. I will also limit sweets to one small dessert a day which will be homemade if possible.

I'll post my household goals tomorrow. I have to admit that I'm worn out and am going to go lie down.LOL I hope everyone has a great Sunday.

Blessings,

Lisa

Well, this weekend went by way too fast. Here it is Monday, and I'm not ready!LOL My asthma is bothering me again today, so I'll probably take it easy but for the rest of the week, these are my goals.

Clean Laundry room-I've never had a laundry room and since it's in the house, I'd like to keep it neat. It has some shelving above the washer and dryer and I use for bulk items and cleaning supplies and it's gotten quite messy. Also, the trash can for the lint and other items I find in pockets hasn't been dumped ever and it's spilling over onto the floor.(How's that for real and gritty.LOL)

Check Hot Spots for build up. I've noticed that some of our more popular "spots" for setting things down have some build up. I'm going to concentrate on getting everything put away.

Wash everyone's bedding. Some people, who will remain nameless, have not brought me their bedding in a while so I figure I'll just do everyone. I finished all the regular laundary yesterday since we bought new clothes over the weekend and we needed them so I'll just use today as a catch up on bedding day.

Make yogurt. I have to admit that I've been buying it lately but one reason I bought the yogurt maker in the first place is that Publix runs out of the organic yogurt all the time and I wanted to have the ability to make it on those weeks and this is one of those weeks. I have some left and will make the new yogurt with it before it's used for bottles.

Put Isaac on the potty every diaper change during the day, for the whole week. I'm only looking for more chances for him to get the "point". If after the end of the week, he's starting to figure things out, then we'll try going bottom-less next week. If he doesn't go in the potty this week, then we'll continue what we're doing this week for a little while longer.

I'm also going to work on getting more activities put together for the little ones out of the books The Toddler's and Preschooler's Busy Books. I haven't been spending enough time getting these together and the littles really need it. They are always asking for more to do but I end up giving them the same stuff over and over and they are bored. Believe me, I can tell.LOL

I think that's it for the week! Today is going well so far. I reviewed the older kids work from last week and they both got a B on their Module tests for Biology and finished all their work. I'm proud of their hard work. We've made a lot of progress! I spent an hour going over what they did, grading, and scheduling out their work for this week. I also spent some time discussing the books that they read. I've also given both little ones a bath this morning and they've been taken for a walk. After that, I swept the back patio, straighten it up and I fixed lunch.LOL

Blessings,

Lisa