Christmas Craft

Note to self - do this with the kids. 

A cute paper tree at our friends cabin

Black Board

This has been a good little thing for us - I simply call it "the black board"

It is a simple wood board, painted black, with colored clothes pins on it. This is where we put invites or important papers that we need to act on. I've had this up for a few years, but it was held up by Command strips, and they keep coming loose because the board is slightly warped, so if we push on the top clothes pins, it pulls the board off of the wall at the bottom. So it's been falling off the wall for the past few months and the clothes pins have broken apart or gotten lost as it falls. Tonight, I decided to be productive and finish this as I waited for people to go to bed. So now it's up and should stay - I painted new clothes pins yesterday and drilled holes in the board and repainted it. Now it's nailed to the wall and ready to go. Yay

Getting Kids to Help

I'm struggling (again) with getting the kids to help with chores. Maybe I'd do better if I was checking in here daily/weekly. I've also been thinking I should ask around my neighborhood to see what the other parents are doing that works. One of our neighbors (a dad) said that he hasn't done the dishes in years or something like that. We need to find out what they are doing. It's like the kids avoid me. When I start telling them to help, they either go hide in their room and draw or read (good things to do, but not good to avoid my instructions) or they start running around playing with the toddlers, which I also appreciate but again, they are avoiding my instructions. They are going to want help today or tomorrow with Valentines... I will try to remember to use it as an opportunity to teach a lesson: You guys want helps from Dad and I, and we need help from you.

Tidying Up

I recently signed up for Netflix, and one of the main reasons was so I could watch the new Tidying Up with Marie Kondo series. I'd heard several women rave about it (BFF Nicole and EJC ladies). I watched it at the hospital when our baby was born and I've been watching it while I nurse now. I think Marie is going to be keeping me company at 3 am for a a while.

On Thursday, after taking the baby to the pediatrician, I went by Walmart to buy containers to organize. I came home and did the linen closet. I thanked and then donated quite a few sheets, and the rest is all organized. I didn't take a before but I'll try to remember to take pics before I organize.

Tomorrow the kids are home from school and I'm hoping to make progress with the DVD chaos (from my husband's business overflow into our home) and clean up some of the abundance of toys from Christmas. I'm going to try to post as I organize to give myself some accountability. :)

Fewer Toys = More Play

From my inbox today of Day 1 of the "7 Day Simplifying Childhood Challenge"

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The Fewer Toys Children Have the More They Play

“As you decrease the quantity of your child’s toys and clutter, you increase their attention and their capacity for deep play.” Kim John Payne 

Does your child have a room full of toys, but only plays with a handful of them? Is constantly tidying toys and clutter stealing your sanity? Or time you could be spending with your child? You’re not alone. The average western child has 150 toys and receives an extra 70 each year. Our homes are being inundated with toys that aren’t necessarily serving our children well.

One Raised Good reader commented: “When my kids were young, my husband read an article about children having 10 toys and no more. We walked into their play room, he scooped up all their toys and told me to get rid of them. I was extremely hesitant. I thought they’d be at my feet with so ‘few’ toys. But no, they played better with 10 toys than with 40.”

This experience is backed by research that shows that children, especially those under five, are overwhelmed and actually play more when they have fewer toys. Kathy Sylva, professor of educational psychology at Oxford University, says that “when they [children] have a large number of toys there seems to be a distraction element, and when children are distracted they do not learn or play well." Her research shows that children with fewer toys whose parents spend more time reading, singing or playing with them surpass youngsters from even more affluent backgrounds.

Fewer toys gives kids the freedom to immerse themselves deeply in imaginative rather than superficial play. With fewer toys children become more creative using household items to invent their own games. You’d be hard pressed to find a parent who hasn’t said, at one point, that their child loved playing with the cardboard box a toy came in more than the toy itself. With fewer toys children have the opportunity to truly value what they have and learn to take greater care of their things. They become less self-centred as they learn they can’t have everything they want. We send the message that they don’t need to look to external sources of materialism to bring them fleeting happiness.

But the problem doesn’t lie solely with our children; we need to look at our own habits too. For many of us, gift giving is a love language. The theory of love languages is that each of us give and receive love in different ways. The five love languages are words of affirmation, acts of service, receiving gifts, quality time and physical touch. Most of us experience love through all of these languages but often one or two are dominant. Giving and receiving gifts can be a wonderful expression of love but I wonder if our consumer driven society is predisposing us to allow one love language to monopolize our relationships. We can show our love for our children in other ways. Spending quality one on one time with our kids. Going for an ice cream together. Wrestling with our two year old on the bed. Hugs, hugs and more hugs.

So, we know we need to eradicate the clutter but how do we do it? Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Create four piles: keep, remove, donate, and rotate (by creating a toy library - we’ll get to that soon) 
• Remove all broken toys 
• Remove all toys with missing parts 
• Remove any toys that limit a child’s imagination (toys where you press a button and it lights up or makes a noise are prime candidates) 
• Remove toys your child hasn’t played with in over a month Always keep favourite toys that are often simple and classic toys 
• Donate toys to a local Salvation Army, a child’s hospital or a play centre. If your children are old enough to understand the concept (my son isn’t just yet!), involve them in the process and they’ll feel good about helping other children and giving their old toys a new home. 

If you have young children, I recommend completing this process without them. We typically “tidy” our son’s room and clear the house of toys when he’s sleeping, otherwise it is a complete disaster. The following day he doesn’t seem to notice missing toys AND he plays with the toys he has left with renewed enthusiasm and energy. After you remove and donate excess toys your child may still have too many toys available to play with at any one time. We created a toy library and it has been a massive success. We keep six clear plastic containers in a cupboard downstairs and every few weeks we bring the “old” toys out and our son plays with them as if they were brand new. We either return them to the cupboard downstairs or swap out “old” toys for “new” toys that are in his bedroom.

By no means am I suggesting that toys are evil and that they must be eradicated. Toys are wonderful and add such joy to childhood - it's just that our society has taken it to the extreme. In tomorrow's lesson I'll give some tips on how to choose toys (and a few of my favourites) to help maintain simplicity (and sanity) in your home. Once you start clearing out toys, you may feel the urge to minimise the whole house. And I can almost guarantee it will have positive effects on your life - more on that in a couple of days as we delve into how simplifying our homes can make parents happier and parenting so much easier. For today, enjoy making more space for your children to play by removing excessive toys. Put some music on and make it a positive experience.

Simplifying Childhood

I read this great article last week by Tracy Gillett on her blog "Raised Good" that I just found out about. Quoted below. I signed up for the 7 day simplifying childhood challenge at the end of that post, and will be posting those here also as I read through them, to help myself stay focused on finally clearing out all this excess for good and spending time with my kids reading, singing, and playing in the mud

My kiddos playing in the gutter mud - Aug 2008

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Extraordinary Things Happen When We Simplify Childhood
by Tracy Gillett

When my Dad was growing up he had one jumper each winter. One. Total. He remembers how vigilantly he cared for his jumper. If the elbows got holes in them my Grandma patched them back together. If he lost his jumper he’d recount his steps to find it again. He guarded it like the precious gift it was. He had everything he needed and not a lot more. The only rule was to be home by dinner time. My Grandma rarely knew exactly where her kids were. They were off building forts, making bows and arrows, collecting bruises and bloody knees and having the time of their lives. They were immersed in childhood.

But the world has moved on since then. We’ve become more sophisticated. And entered a unique period in which, rather than struggling to provide enough parents are unable to resist providing too much. In doing so, we’re unknowingly creating an environment in which mental health issues flourish. When I read Kim John Payne’s book, Simplicity Parenting one message leapt off the page. Normal personality quirks combined with the stress of “too much” can propel children into the realm of disorder. A child who is systematic may be pushed into obsessive behaviours. A dreamy child may lose the ability to focus. Payne conducted a study in which he simplified the lives of children with attention deficit disorder. Within four short months 68% went from being clinically dysfunctional to clinically functional. The children also displayed a 37% increase in academic and cognitive aptitude, an effect not seen with commonly prescribed drugs like Ritalin.

As a new parent I find this both empowering and terrifying. We officially have a massive opportunity and responsibility to provide an environment in which our children can thrive physically, emotionally and mentally. So, what are we getting wrong and how can we fix it?

THE BURDEN OF TOO MUCH

Early in his career, Payne volunteered in refugee camps in Jakarta, where children were dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. He describes them as, “jumpy, nervous, and hyper-vigilant, wary of anything novel or new.” Years later Payne ran a private practice in England, where he recognized many affluent English children were displaying the same behavioural tendencies as the children living in war zones half a world away. Why would these children living perfectly safe lives show similar symptoms? Payne explains that although they were physically safe, mentally they were also living in a war zone of sorts, “Privy to their parents’ fears, drives, ambitions, and the very fast pace of their lives, the children were busy trying to construct their own boundaries, their own level of safety in behaviours that weren’t ultimately helpful.” Suffering with a “cumulative stress reaction” as a result of the snowballing effect of too much, children develop their own coping strategies to feel safe.

Parents and society are conscious of the need to protect our children physically. We legislate car seats, bike helmets and hover in playgrounds. But protecting mental health is more obscure. But, sadly, we are messing up. Modern day children are exposed to a constant flood of information which they can’t process or rationalise. They’re growing up faster as we put them into adult roles and increase our expectations of them. So, they look for other aspects of their life they can control.

THE FOUR PILLARS OF EXCESS

Naturally as parents we want to provide our kids with the best start in life. If a little is good, we think more is better, or is it? We enrol them in endless activities. Soccer. Music. Martial arts. Gymnastics. Ballet. We schedule play dates with precision. And we fill every space in their rooms with educational books, devices and toys. The average western child has in excess of 150 toys each and receives an additional 70 toys per year. With so much stuff children become blinded and overwhelmed with choice. They play superficially rather than becoming immersed deeply and lost in their wild imaginations. Simplicity Parenting encourages parents to keep fewer toys so children can engage more deeply with the ones they have. Payne describes the four pillars of excess as having too much stuff, too many choices, too much information and too much speed. When children are overwhelmed they lose the precious down time they need to explore, play and release tension. Too many choices erodes happiness, robbing kids of the gift of boredom which encourages creativity and self-directed learning. And most importantly “too much” steals precious time.

PROTECTING CHILDHOOD

Similar to the anecdote of the heat slowly being turned up and boiling the unsuspecting frog, so too has society slowly chipped away at the unique wonder of childhood, redefining it and leaving our kid’s immature brains drowning trying to keep up. Many refer to this as a “war on childhood”. Developmental Psychologist David Elkind reports kids have lost more than 12 hours of free time per week in the last two decades meaning the opportunity for free play is scarce. Even preschools and kindergartens have become more intellectually-oriented. And many schools have eliminated recess so children have more time to learn. The time children spend playing in organized sports has been shown to significantly lower creativity as young adults, whereas time spent playing informal sports was significantly related to more creativity. It’s not the organized sports themselves that destroy creativity but the lack of down time. Even two hours per week of unstructured play boosted children’s creativity to above-average levels.

PARENTS TAKE CHARGE

So, how do we as parents protect our kids in this new “normal” society has created? Simple, we say no. We protect our kids and say no, so we can create space for them to be kids. No, Sam can’t make the birthday party on Saturday. No, Sophie can’t make soccer practice this week. And we recreate regular down time providing a sense of calm and solace in their otherwise chaotic worlds. It provides a release of tension children know they can rely on and allows children to recover and grow, serving a vital purpose in child development. We filter unnecessary busyness and simplify their lives. We don’t talk about global warming at the dinner table with a seven year old. We watch the news after our kids are asleep. We remove excessive toys and games from our toddler’s room when they’re sleeping. We recreate and honour childhood. Our children have their whole lives to be adults and to deal with the complexities of life, but only a fleetingly short time in which they can be kids. Silly, fun loving kids. Childhood serves a very real purpose. It’s not something to “get through”. It’s there to protect and develop young minds so they can grow into healthy and happy adults. When society messes too much with childhood, young brains react. By providing a sense of balance and actively protecting childhood we’re giving our children the greatest gift they’ll ever receive.

Missing Socks?

Mystery solved!!

Fresh Towels

Saw this on facebook today - I have towels like this at home (back in the states) so this is for my future reference after we're done with this trip in Brazil.

HOW TO REFRESH YOUR TOWELS
by Jocelyn Killam

After a while, towels start to have a build up of softeners & laundry soap. This causes them to no longer absorb like they did when you first purchased them. You may even start noticing an odor that is not so pleasant after a while, too. How can you refresh them once this happens?

Simple solution to follow....

Run them through a wash cycle with only hot water & 1 cup of white vinegar. Do not add soaps! Then run them through again. This time using hot water and 1/2 cup baking soda. Again, do not use soaps! This process will strip the residue that has built up and cause them to be fresh and practically new again. You will notice they absorb better as well. Repeat this procedure as needed.

Winter Pennant Banner

I finally made our winter pennant banner. The kids were proud of me. I sewed this one onto a ribbon. The "i" is bugging me a little, so we'll see if I change that for next year, but as for now, we'll call it good.

Winter Chandelier

Another place in our house that we decorate for the season is the entryway chandelier. The first time I did it was for this past fall, and we had leaves hanging on jute twine falling from it. For winter, we have snowflakes hanging from silver, blue and white ribbons.

We have more snow inside than we do outside right now. It's been a spring like past couple of weeks.

Iron Thingy & Winter Magnets

We updated our seasonal Iron decoration - I put away the fall leaves last week and then yesterday updated it with some snowflake magnets that we made. Bought the snowflakes at Dollar Tree and Walmart, magnets were just ones I had on hand. Here's the one by the music room - easier to see against the brown walls.

And the one upstairs, a little harder to see the white on white, so I put a few more of the silvers ones upstairs.

They make me happy!

Labeling with ABC Stampers

I got some mini ABC Stamper markers some years ago - and I keep them carefully tucked away and protected - so that the children will not find them and ruin them. I need them for all my labeling, cause the rainbow colors are just so cute! I love to label things with them.

Yesterday I finally labeled our phones, and it's so helpful for me and everyone to put things in their place because they are labeled and have a place! Labeled the wipes too, so I know which box goes upstairs and which one is downstairs.

And I use them to label binders...

 I made a little fridge magnet for them to use on our family calendar...

 And of course used them to label the box that I keep them in, which is tucked away from little hands :)

Iron Thingy & Autumn Magnets

I had this iron work thing above our bed for a while, but after the first week I knew it wasn't what I wanted up there. Still, I left its been up there for over 2 years. I took it down when Corey was in Brazil in August. I was planning on having something in it's place before he got back, but instead it's still blank and the iron thingy got left abandoned on our floor for a month. Well, it's finally found a home where I like it and where it is happy too. And I actually have two of these, cause when we had a houseguest, Angela, she must have noticed it above our bed and liked it, cause when she was visiting us here from Chile she bought one at Ross (for like $50 less than I paid, no fair). She wasn't able to fit it in her luggage for her trip home (she had done way too much shopping!) and so we inherited it. So now one is by the kid's study (formerly Corey's office) off the family room to the side of the kitchen:

and the other one is upstairs in between the bathroom and the lego room.

So it's nice cause they tie the two floors of our house together! These little iron decorations are going to house our season magnets, which right now are fall leaves for autumn. I think we'll do snowflake magnets in winter, and flowers in spring and summer. :) I like these iron things now, glad we were able to find a place for them.

Girl's Room Dresser

I painted this with a flat paint a year ago to just test things out. Then decided I did in face like the white, so we started to do a final paint with glossy white. I just did the drawers first, like at the beginning of spring, and only now did I finish the rest of the dresser. Had to sand off fingernail polish and prime over red paint and pen and markers a lot, but wow, it looks so much better now!

With two coats of polyurethane on the top to keep future scribblings off of it (hopefully!) Mel and I are both very happy with the result. :)

 And I made this a while ago ~ painted a frame and stapled in some chicken wire for her earrings.

School Cupboards

I'm trying to get a few projects done. Project Master Bedroom is still in the "seeking inspiration" phase. I did just complete a different project though - the after school "drop off" station. We have these 6 cupboards behind the front door.

For the past few years each kid in school had a cupboard. Now we have 7 kids in school, so had to mix things up a bit. So now kids share back pack cupboards and shoe shelves. Joseph and Mel in cupboard 1, 4 Jr. High kids shoes in cupboard 2, Ethan and Hyrum backpack in cupboard 3. (all the backpacks are gone cause they're at school right now...)

On the bottom, we've got Sunday shoes in cupboard 4, elementary kids' backpacks in cupboard 5 (I had to put 3 hooks in there, and I learned it's hard to screw things inside of cupboards). Cupboard 6 is shoes for Wes/Abi/Lily/Sophi/Natalie, aka WALSN. It ain't beautiful, but it's functional, so that will do us just fine for now.

Master Bedroom Help

I've been searching for a long time for an idea for above our master bed. I recently saw this idea in the spring/summer issue of "Best of Flea Market Style" Magazine...

So I like that idea, I think I'll put a white shelf to set them on, I just need to know: 

should I do capital letters...

or lower case?

"Back to School" Board

I made this little "Back to School" board today. 

I am able to rotate out the paper on the second half to show whatever is our school year theme.

I have only made one other board like this, but I hope to make enough that there is always one up to celebrate the current holiday or season. And they are not by the desk anymore, they are on the small wall space by the front door. :) 

I also rotate out the colored vases, a simple way to decorate as I try to figure out how to be festive.

"Back to School" Tradition

I think we've got a new tradition. "School Year's Eve" - the nutshell of it is in that link - here are some of the more boring details - 

FEAST - Feast - Ham sandwiches, sack lunch foods, and chocolate milk, cupcakes and primary colored candies and lollipops

THEME - 2014-15 Theme: Of Things That Matter Most

CENTERS - Each one had a star balloon to guide us. Next year make a worksheet with a section for each color, or they earn a star sticker at each center, after they get all the stars they get their prize (lunchsack full of treats and a theme reminder for their room/shelf)

• BLUE CENTER - Questionnaire
• PURPLE CENTER - Routine & Schedule (Mom's In and out box)
• GREEN CENTER - After School Routine (where you file your papers, put backpack, etc)
• ORANGE CENTER - School supplies
• RED CENTER - Visualization Boards (I have a box where I put all the magazines I'm done with and the kids cut them up to their hearts content. I think they liked it)
• YELLOW CENTER - Father's Blessings

PRIZE - fruit snack, rice krispy treat, mnm's, this year bank for boys (prepare for future and missions) for girls is a little trinket phone charm for their little knick nack shelf, reminder of calling on God for help, of talking time to talk in relationships that matter, necklaces for little girls for fun, princess stickers and mirror and makeup stickers, to remember beauty within is what matters most and that they are daughters of a King.

Flower Pens

During the school year, we never seem to be able to find a pen when we need one, like when I need to sign permission slips, write out a check, initial daily planners, etc. (so basically all the time.) SO, in anticipation for much pen usage during the school year that is fast upon us, I made some flower pens. 

They are a hit with the little girls, and I know when they go when I find them discarded on the floor. :) We have a pot of pens in the kitchen and also in the study by the computer. 

 A place for everything and everything in its place. 

"W" on the Bookshelf

I made this framed W picture seven months ago. It's been looking for a home ever since. It's made it on the wall a few times, only to be removed as I wait for inspiration. This past week she found her home on the wall at the top of the bookshelf and I love it. With our Valentine candy on display. Those are some "sours" gummy candy from Zurchers.

(Mel trying to photo bomb my photo.)

I like these bookshelves. We had them when we were renting our other house, then they spent time at my brother in laws home when we moved out of the country for a few months. After we returned, he said he could give them back or he'd post them on the classifieds. I wasn't planning on getting them back, since they are big and it's kinda a hassle, but I thought I'd rather get them back over selling them. Anyway, we had to saw off the two metal bases they were on to make them fit in the front room, and after fitting them in I was very glad we took them back. They are on either side of the north wall in our front room. I like the slightly color coordinated books too, thanks to Design Mom for introducing that idea to me. (I couldn't find the post about it on her blog, here's another post though.)