Kids Are People, Too!

I took the kids to the zoo yesterday. Just me, with all three little ones. And we had such a nice time! Really! If you had asked me about this even earlier in the day, I would have said you were crazy... there was no way I was going to take all the kids (like we have SO many) anywhere alone. But I got inspired around lunch time, and off we went. And we really enjoyed ourselves. We picnicked, saw the animals, followed the map, went to the children's area, and enjoyed the sunshine and each other.

I think sometimes I have it in my head that my kids are somehow little beings that need to be managed. Like I need to work extra hard because I am not only doing my own thing, but controlling all these other people, too. Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me that my children are actually little people, not projects, and you know what, they're good company, too! I was able to just relax, give up my illusion of control, and really enjoy hanging out with three interesting people.

I'm feeling rather inarticulate this morning, and this post isn't coming off quite as eloquent as it was in my head. It's hard to capture the emotion and the meaning in something as simple as taking the kids to the zoo. But that's okay, too. Because I'm realizing that it really isn't all about me anyway.

Here are a few pictures I took with my phone during our little adventure.

J hiding in a tunnel in the children's area, pretending to be a turtle

J and W playing store

K posing for the camera

W playing in the stream

No TV Update

So, last week I posted about entertaining the little owls without resorting to the TV. The truth is, it's exhausting (hence the infrequent blog posts since then). But, we've made it a whole week. The rule is no TV during the day. And since they go to bed not long after supper, it pretty much means we can only watch a movie for Family Night (last night's movie was Return of The Jedi). The new rule was met with much less resistance than anticipated. Which is always a plus. Even J, who was wont to start his day with "can I watch a show" has stopped even asking. He has even reminded K of the rule a few times. It does help that our tv is in an armoire with doors, and we just keep them closed during the day.

But man, am I tired. I had to be the activity director ALOT the first few days. This is where it was nice that a chunk of our mornings at least are taken up with school work. And thank goodness for the nice spring weather we've been having since the rain of last Thursday.

Overall, I am really excited we've made it this far. I have this crazy love-hate relationship with TV viewing for the kids. J didn't watch any TV at all until K was born. And then, it was like the flood gates opened and we had a TV free-for-all. And we've been trying to stem the tide ever since. At one point, it had gotten so bad that J (4 at the time) would lock the door to our temporary apartment when I was walking the dogs, so that he could scam a few minutes of watching PBS (we didn't even have cable at the time) while I hollered and fumbled with my keys in the ice and snow, trying to let myself back in. Ahhh, those were the days.

But since we've made it a week, I know we can make it another week. And then another. We'll see how long we can keep it going. My blog posting may suffer, but it's all for the greater good, right?

For a fun read about going TV free, check here.

What's Working Wednesdays

Here's our what's working update for this week.

We have had a few people recently comment on our light switch extenders. We LOVE them! K is on the shorter side of small, and still can't reach any of the light switches, even on her tippytoes. So these have been great for letting her be able to turn lights on and off (an no longer have to pee in the dark). And now W is almost tall enough to reach them too. The best part is that they are totally clear and aren't very noticable at all.

We have these... the company has excellent customer service, too!

Look What I made!

I'm pretty proud of myself! My grandmom made me some knitted washcloths that I love. She doesn't knit anymore, so I decided to make myself some. These are just single crochet squares, and I tried to make a fancy edging for them :) The colors look a bit washed out in the photos, but in person, they're really pretty. I think the large one is a bit too large and the smaller one is a bit too small, so there will probably be a version 3.0 at some time. In the meantime, I can barely bring myself to wash the dishes with them, but I guess I've got to break them in sometime!

Good Gracious

It is after 10 pm. My kids are all asleep, my house is clean, the laundry is done... why in the world am I blogging?!?!

Rainy Day Fun

Otherwise entitled, How Can We Pass The Time on a Rainy Day With No TV


Otherwise otherwise entitled, A Nearly Exhaustive Look At Our Day


This morning it was raining again. Not gentle rain like on Tuesday. Today we had a terrific downpour, complete with thunder and lightning. We HAD planned to work in the back yard today... SIGH I guess plans change. It was dark and gloomy, so we lit candles and snuggled up for some good books. But we all knew that could only last so long. And it was only last night that I announced to the kids that we would be keeping the TV off during the day from now on. YIKES


So what to do with three super active kids on a rainy day? Why, indoor bowling of course! We set up our little foam bowling set, and took turns bowling down the hallway.




Next up was lunch -- soup served in tea cups with tortilla chips on the side. During lunch, we read aloud from Little House In the Big Woods. So of course naturally we then had to play Little House.


And then K and I settled in on the loveseat to finish attaching Bianca's hair. Bianca is the Waldorf doll I made for K for Christmas. She'll get her own post complete with pictures at a later date. But due to running out of yarn, and waiting for a new ball of yarn to arrive, Bianca's hair has been incomplete. And today seemed like the perfect time to fix that. K helped, J watched, and W tried to jump on us repeatedly.


Somewhere in there we also played a few board games, did all of our lessons, baked two loaves of bread, baked a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread and a batch of rolls, made a pitcher of iced tea, emptied the dishwasher, got dressed, had some snacks, folded and put away yesterday's laundry (oops), and started another load running.


And just when I thought we might run out of things to do... the sun came out. The sky is a perfect blue with not a cloud in sight!!!! What happened to the ferocious storm of this morning? If it wasn't for the muddy ground and lingering puddles, I almost wouldn't believe it. So into the car to pick up our CSA share and let W take a nap... we had been postponing this (the car trip, not the nap) because the wet weather seemed dangerous for driving. And now that we are home, the boys have tumbled out of the house to go play in the mud, K is playing with chalboard in the garage, and I am about to go fix supper (chili and cornbread, yum).


So, we all survived, and we managed to keep the TV off too! Whew!

What's Working Wednesdays

I have just a minute or two (literally) but I don't want to skip this. So this week's What's Working is dishwashing :) It's amazing how much better my morning goes when I wake up to a shiny sink! I'm on a roll... my sink has been clean for about a week now. I think this is some kind of record.