Chase's Big Fish

Another Windy Day for Line Drying Clothes

The wind just always seems to be blowing here in Hughville. And since I like to use the assets that are laid before me, we line dry clothes.

Normally Chase has the duties of washing at least one load of clothes a day. But this week, he didn't complete the tasks. So I washed three loads this morning and they all dried super quick. Today I am thankful for the wind on the prairie!

It Is Time!

The summer always seems to go by so fast. However I get the feeling that it is time for my children to return to school! I discovered this in my basement today.

As you can see, an unfinished basement makes it literally easy to climb the walls!

Baseball Season is here!

Baseball season is upon us here at Hughville. Dana and Chase both play.

At their age level, the core schedule is Monday through Thursday. Chase has games on Monday and Wednesday with practice the other days of the week. Dana plays games on Tuesday and Thursday.

Dana is playing catcher this year and I have also seen here at first base.

Chase plays third base and had a try at pitching today.

Since they both travel out of town for some games I am packing lunches again. I like for the kids to help with the lunch menu that way I know they will eat their lunch!

Looking back on the Cloth Diapering years

We were cleaning out the garage this past weekend and found these--diaper pins! I have no idea why we would have put them in a bucket of screws but I quickly rescued them! They are probably the only remnants left of my cloth diapering past. Quickly approaching their teen years my children now speak of sex, pubic hair, hair removal, tampons and why testicles don't flow through to the other side of the sack! Ugh! I have no answer for that last question; any advice would be helpful there!

It seems like a life time ago since my days of young motherhood. Following in my mother's footsteps, I made the choice to cloth diaper all my children. Some of the benefits included financial savings, reducing waste in landfills, no nasty smelling garbage can and a healthy child's bottom! In fact, Dana had rashes quite often from the perfumes in disposables and cloth diapers where about the only diaper possible for her delicate skin! I used a diaper pail from a garage sale, Gerber prefold diapers, rubber/vinyl pants, and pins all from Wal-mart. I also bought pink and later blue package of wash clothes that were specifically for diaper clean ups. This probably is still the cheapest method for today.

Even though I had two children in diapers at once, I didn't feel that it was that much work. Wet diapers would go directly into the dry diaper pail and poopies where rinsed or plopped out in the toilet. Kirk never found the rinsing out part tolerable and so he would leave poopies for me. Sigh. I washed diapers and wash clothes together at least every other day and used the outdoor line for drying. When the diaper pail was empty, it too was washed and air dried. Oh, and it wasn't unusual to find a pile of clean diapers lying on my couch waiting to be folded.

Modern cloth diapering has come along way. Wow, you don't even need pins anymore! A quick Google will show you a list of modern cloth diapers websites. I am no longer an expert on cloth diapering however I thought this site offers many choices so you don't have to cloth diaper the way mom (or I) used to! www.greenmountaindiapers.com/

I wouldn't change my cloth diaper past and if blessed with another baby today, I would do it all again. So enjoy your diaper years with your young child because time slips by so fast...

2008 Vacation Bible School

Tonight was the first night of four for VBS (Vacation Bible School). This is a community event that is sponsored by the area churches. It is the next four nights M-TH from 5:30 – 8:45. They serve a light supper; have wonderful music and many exciting activities for the kids to take part in while learning about Christ. What could be more fun that that? :)

In previous years, my husband and I have used this time to get some things done. We usually would plan shopping or a household "to do" while the kids were at the event. Last year, I dropped my kids off at the camp and returned to work until 8:30. (How foolish!) In the past, we used the event as free childcare which always left me feeling guilty. I always thought I should help out but never did. Well this year, I was directly approached and asked to help. My time was due so I more than willing agreed!

This year’s theme is based upon a science lab. I am assisting Bonnie in the memory room where we give out the nightly characters. Pictured is the little figurines each student gets each night. They made a key chain tonight in order to keep them all together. They help to remember the learned bible verse for each night.

The kids are broke up into crews. Five crews of kids rotate through and spend 25 minutes in our room learning the bible verse for the day. The time flew by so fast and it is just great to see all the children laughing, smiling and learning about Jesus! And God's children said "Amen"!

Note to kids: Have a fun week at VBS and remember “use your manners”!

Cooling off in the Summer Heat

It was rather warm today and we kept the kids working outside most of the day. The shovels, hoeing, lifting, pushing and pulling were all labor intense for us city folks and we all tired out! By late afternoon, Kirk had a headache and the kids just wanted to rest a bit. The first thought was just to rest into the shade for awhile.

But it wasn't long before the kids dug out the sprinklers and played in the cool water for awhile. I just sat back watched. That water is much too cool for me! They tried to coax the hyper hounds in to cool off also but we don't have water dogs! They just preferred a spot in the shade next to mama.

Cleaning the back entry

We have been using this blog to assign weekly chore list and organize ourselves. So far I think it has been helpful and educational to our family. Keeping the list in the side column of the blog, reduces the amount of notebooks and sticky notes laying on the counters and kitchen table. I really wasn’t very good at keeping up the paper method and most of the time we would lose the list in a pile of mail and homework sheets. This way everyone knows where to look for their assignment (I do keep up a back master copy on paper in case the computer is busy). And I keep the master lists in a word doc and can easily copy and paste them through a rotation. To keep everyone officially trained, we switch the chore list about once a week.

Yesterday, I followed up on the completed chore lists and noticed that some were uncompleted. Well just not fully completed, maybe completed in too much of a hurry. Since the person in charge of the list had already left the house to play, I asked Chase if the back entry looked completed to him. We both agreed that is was a kind of, maybe but not really an adequate job. So I thought I would write a list of what keeping our small back walk way entails for everyone in the household. As with any job, at work or at home, it is all about proper training. If everyone is not trained or instructed completely then the job won’t be done to the boss’ satisfaction. Well today the boss isn’t satisfied so here is a run down of duties!

¨ Put away shoes (Place in correct owners bedrooms except if muddy)
¨ Place any other articles hanging out on the steps or on the hooks in their proper place
¨ Hang up dog leashes
¨ Sweep the floor
¨ Shack out the rug and return it to floor

We want this space to be somewhat need and clean at all times. Why? Because if company comes to the back door, they need a place to put shoes and hang their coats. Our back door entrance is only an entrance area and after just a few hours it easily becomes messy. Therefore it is important that we constantly keep up on this area neat. If this is your assigned area, you may need to check up on it a couple of times a day.

Over all you kids are doing a good job on your chores! Thanks and I love you!

Franks for Fathers

The fourth grade class participated in “Franks for Father’s” today. It is actually a whole day event but fathers, uncle, or any other someone could come and go as their schedule allowed. Kirk was able to attend the am events with Chase. They made kites, had lunch and then flew their kites.

Jaden and I came mid-day so Kirk could return to work. We played the games and participate in a 1 ½ mile fun run/walk. The whole school participates in the fun run so Jaden was able to see a few friends. :)

The weather was perfect and everyone had a good time.

Organize the laundry room and make washing fun

Like many families, our laundry pile seems to be a never-ending job. I try to wash one or two loads daily in order to keep on top of things. However I don’t always achieve that goal and often fall behind. In efforts to relieve myself of all the laundry duties, I have begun to enlist my children in helping with this process. (I know probably something I should have done a long time ago.) Laundry is just one of many basic skills I have neglected to teach them. Jaden, my homeschooler, has picked up on the task nicely and now helps out with collecting and sorting the clothes. The other two children are older but at school the majority of the day and missed out on the daily training. Well it is time for everyone to learn how to wash the clothes!

So I designed a clear set of instructions for the laundry room. I implemented this three basket laundry cart for sorting the clothes. Since I generally sort using four piles, I also added a hamper that we no longer use. This gives us four piles: whites, light colors, dark colors and towels. I used 3 x 5 recipe cards and wrote clear instructions on what is consider a white, light color, ect. On the cards, I also listed details on what temperature, pre-treaters and soaps to use and them some “what ifs” and how to handle a stain or particularly smelly batch of clothes. Any dryer times and temperatures were not an issue here since we rarely use the dryer. However I would suggest a dryer family to also list dryer information. Shrinkage is a major factor and something to avoid if at all possible.

Next I added a card to the washing machine for “specials”. Any clothes that need special attention should be placed directly on the machine. This ensures stains and spills won’t get missed. These clothes can be pre-treated as necessary and hopeful avoid permanent damage. Sport uniforms, leotard, and swimming suits should also be placed here for immediate washing. Then they won’t be lost in the dirty laundry when it’s time for practice or game time!



I also made notes on the washing machine panel with a washable kids maker indicating the general wash cycle, water level and temperature. As you can see, my biggest concern was the knob not being turned in the appropriate direction. Enlisting the kids to help certainly won’t be profitable if the knob ended up broken!

I gave them all a brief tour discussing the laundry and should the lists of general instructions. After a few basic questions, they all felt like this was a system that could work. With the 3 x 5 cards as a reference, anyone here should be able to handle the laundry duties therefore keep us all clean and neat!

4-H NS Flower Planting

We planted flowers today with the Dana and Chase’s 4-H club. Even though it was cool weather, it was nice to get outside and pretty up the community. We planted flowers in the big pots along the main drag here in town. Kirk was even done work by 6:00 so he was able to join the family. That doesn’t happen very often during construction season.




The kids all did a great job working together and with the others in the group. Jaden planted the spike with a teenage member, Dana planted the petunias with a leader and Chase was on the clean up crew sweeping up the spilled dirt. There was plenty of help so we were home shortly after 7:00.




The best part was there were some extra plants so we were given some flowers to take home. The frugal me really loves that part! I will have plenty for my hanging baskets to pretty up the outside of my house. That just goes to show little volunteer work can benefit families in more than one way!

Chase's New Years Resolutions

In an effort to make personal gains and encourage the kids a bit, I had them all reflect about 2007 and come up with some ideas about things to change in order to make 2008 a better year.
Aftering put some time and thought into it, here is what Chase (age 9) came up with. I thought it was well thought through. These concepts really are some things that he could improve on. Way to go, Chase.

• Do my homework
• Listen to my parents
• Brush my teeth at night
• Be nicer to Jaden

Happy 2008 to all.

Words to Chase

Chase,

Thank you for making our dessert tonight. You made a really awesome chocolate cake. I appreciate that you went easy on the sprinkles knowing that I really don't care for them. That shows me that you are courteous to others tastes. You are a great baker! Keep up your good work!

Love, Your Mom

Hey Chase

Sorry for not giving you your Bible.

Bye, Dana