Airing my dirty laundry

The past month I have been trying to squeeze more order into my universe. It's an entirely uphill battle.

I've:
1. revamped our homeschooling cirriculum
2. reorganized a few of the rooms in the house
3. put primary together (children's Sunday School- I'm the president again)
4. created weekly menus and organized recipes using allrecipes.com
5. created an evening house cleaning routine that involves family participation
6. Started a regular exercise regimen.

Still to conquer -the laundry.

Last week I let the laundry get ahead of me and yesterday when Mark donned a t-shirt and jeans to wear to work (without complaining) I knew an immediate intervention was in order.

The Intervention:

My dirty laundry

Driving 10 loads of laundry to the nearest laundry mat. Can I just tell you how wonderful it feels to get all of it washed, dried, hung up, folded and put away in 2 hours instead of 2 days? Dreamy! Leaving the kids home next week and taking a book...dreamier. Coming back from the laundry mat to a house cleaned by Merry Maids...dreamiest! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah wouldn't that be nice! I think I'm on to something...something good!

Happy Birthday!

The birthday girl just turned 1!!!

The 'Lost' Imagination

A conversation with Jeffrey:

"Mom, I've lost my imagination."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, I think you're going to be mad."

"I promise I won't. What happened."

"Well, okay. One of the main Jedis, the one that's the ghost, just came and told me and Yoda that we can't have the force anymore. He just kicked us off! That's why I can't use my imagination. It's lost."

Trying not to giggle, "I thought Jedis had to vote about that kind of stuff."

"No, he's the main one Mom. He can do whatever he wants even without a vote. And all the other Jedis have to do what he says."

"So he won't let you be a Jedi and he took your imagination?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Maybe Dad can have a talk with him. He knows all about Jedi stuff."

"Good idea Mom!"

The Bad Hair Day that Never Ends

A few weeks ago went in to get myhair cut. I had been mulling over a new hair style for a while. The stylist and I talked about cutting bangs, a few layers around the face, long layers in the back and leaving the length. I showed her a few times how much hair I wanted as bangs, just a wisp.

I was feeling confident that we had communicated well and she began to cut. She trimmed around the bottom and cut the bangs. So far, so good. By this time, I really wasn't paying much attention to what the stylist was doing because I was busy chatting with Brooklynn.

Now it was time to start layering. And what do you think happened? She layered the hair around my face and tripled the amount of bangs! Yes, they take up half of the top of my head! I can either wear my hair curly and have a pom-pom on the top of my head or wear it straight and look like I have a graduation tassle glued to my head. It's a toss up- pom-pom, tassle, pom-pom, tassle. What looks better? It's a bad hair day everyday. I'm praying for my hair to grow an inch quickly so I can tuck it all behind my ear and have it disappear.

Mother's Day

Saturday I was finishing up cleaning the bathroom. I just had the hard to reach spot behind the toilet left to wipe up. I was sprawled out over my freshly sanitized porcelain thrown, towel in hand reaching for that last bit of floor when Brooklynn walked in. "Mom, the bathroom looks great..." It gladdened my heart! What a great Mother's Day!

Gym Class

The kids went to a homeschool 'gym' class for the second time today. The weather was nice enough to do outdoor games: relay races, tug of war, and some frisbee throwing. For one of the relays they had to add another person to their line each time they made it back to the start and run the race again. They were supposed to hold hands. Brooklynn accused the boys of cheating.

Brooklynn and some of her new friends!

After relays, time for a swim lesson. Jeffrey and Brooklynn both swam the length of the pool 4 times! Pretty good for their second day.

Way to go kids!!

Brooklynn has been talking about her accomplishment all day.

Spring

I think I can safely say that spring is finally here- sunny days mixed with occasional clouds and rain. We watched some storm clouds roll in from the west, pour down some rain, and move out, bringing blue skies and puffy white clouds. During the 10 minute down pour, I took a few shots of the kids. Substitute Malia's happy face with the irritated one below and it would be a decent picture.

She's generally happier when she's on the move!

Through Brooklynn's Eyes

Brooklynn had some fun with the camera today self portriat

always full laundry basket
exercise ball
lush lawn adorned with dandelions (they should be the state flower)

Lost....again

I don't loose my keys all the time, but when I do, I REALLY do. Last year I lost them and I could not find them anywhere. Mark came to the rescue and we turned the ENTIRE house upside down, and found the keys. (It took me a few days to put it all back together.)

Today, I lost the keys again. I was leaving to take the kids to their homeschool class at the zoo. No keys. I even bribed the kids with their very own candybars if they could find them. (That one usually works.) Still no keys. I spent the next 3 hours looking. This time I decided to clean instead of tear apart while I looked. After the entire house was cleaned, dusted, vacuumed, diaper bag reorganized, etc. and still no keys I decided to call a locksmith.

It took him 2 minutes to get the car opened and I was able to get the spare set out (why do I keep the spares inside of the car? who does that?). All was well with the world again.

Mark came home from work and before he came to tell me 'Hello' he found the keys. Aaaaaaargh. Can I have a refund?