Our new morning routine

Update: we tried it this morning and it was AMAZING how my 5 year old cleaned his room, made his bed, and did general pick up around the house with joy! So I added a song to extend this time. he he. We also needed a little longer for breakfast so I added a song there too. So far so good!!!

With our very first day of school....ever...coming up soon, I thought it was a good idea to establish a very structured morning routine with the kids so we don't rack up the tardies. I saw a site online that sells materials that includes music cds that basically trains the kids to stay on a specific task for the duration of a song. And each song's tempo is geared towards that specific task. It sounded like that's what I needed...but not for the $80 price tag.

So tonight I created the playlist that is playing for you right now which is going to correlate to our new morning routine. I figured I'd start it this week to work out any kinks in time for school.

Here's the breakdown:

Song 1: Breakfast at Tiffany's - wake up and get to the kitchen for breakfast
songs 2-4: all classical music, nice and slow to aid in digestion and communication
song 5: get it started - put dishes in sink and wash up
song 6: supercali...- 2 min song to brush teeth
song 7: imperial march (from star wars) - make bed/clean up room
song 8: 2 sec transition
song 9: theme to star wars - 5 min for chores (not sure what I'll have them do but they're doing somethin' darn it...or I can just delete it?)
songs 10-11: I love my shirt and boogie shoes - get dressed
song 12: pod - grab backpack/lunch/anything else you'll need for school and get to the car

each song category is different in tempo and style so the transition will be easy to hear. And time management for a 5 and 2 year old should be easier since the songs keep the time for them.

So from breakfast to out the door, in theory anyways, should only take us 37 minutes.

Let's hope it works cause with the 2 hours I just spent on this, I'm going to be seriously tired tomorrow! :)

The lengths I go to for my kids

Since our second car died (let's pause for a moment of silence.....) my hubby has been taking our only car to work with him in the wee hours of the morning; and by wee I mean before the sun comes up. Dang, that's early!

At my gym, they offered a kids version of the Zumba class and Jeremiah wanted to do it. So on Wednesday mornings, all of us get up before that rooster and we drive my hubby to work - just so we can have the car to make that Zumba-tonic class.

Well a couple of Wednesdays ago my hubby forgot it was Wednesday and drove himself to work. When I woke up and noticed him gone, my heart sank. Is it me or is there just something about not wanting to disappoint one of your kids. So I prayed,
"Lord, if this is one of those times where You would like to teach Jeremiah about disappointment, then so be it. But if there's another way to get to the gym, I'd prefer that."
And wouldn't you know, public transportation popped in my head. So online I went and sure enough, the one bus we needed drove right past where we live. So I synced up our departure time with Zumba-tonic and the 4 year old, 2 year old and 7 month old and I were on our way to the gym...in the middle of July...in the heat!

And it turned out to be a fun trip overall.

So this week the kids and I were looking forward to another 'adventure' to the gym.

Well this time the adventure didn't go quite as nice.

After my workout (timeout...what about Jeremiah's zumba-tonic class, you ask? Oh, he decided he didn't want to go to class; only to kid care. Jeez, and I thought he'd be crushed at not getting to go last week. Ugh, just when I think I'm understanding that kid...) we walk to Subway for lunch then off to the bus stop to wait for the bus. Too bad I FORGET the bus schedule so I don't know how long we have to wait. Ok, not a big deal. I know it has to be less than 45 minutes since that's how long the cycle takes. And there's a nice shady, grassy spot right by the bus stop. And for July, it's a pretty mild day so far. We can do this!

"Mommy, I got poopoo." Nice, Beka! So I change her cause I ain't about to get on the bus with her smelling like death. Too bad there are no trash cans in the area. But there is a car wash nearby and they have trash cans. It's a short walk so the kids and I trek over to throw it away. And wouldn't you know it...there goes our bus and of course, we're not even close to the bus stop. Bye-bye bus. Hello, 45 minute wait.

Well, it is just 45 minutes, right. We can do this! Let's look on the bright side - we all have nice full bellies...oh wait, Nate didn't eat yet. Ok, I brought the diaper bag so I have a nursing cover. I'll just nurse Nate in the shade...by the bus stop...on the side of a pretty busy, 6 lane street.

He eats, let's go, and falls asleep. Ah another peaceful moment brought to you by La Leche League. :) I take a deep breath, sigh out my relief...ahhhh....hmmmm, feeling kinda drafty. Oh, well that's just because MY BOOB IS HANGING OUT from underneath the cover!!!! Uh ya, nice lesson in modesty, Dani! Let's just put that away, shall we?!? I wonder how many people...let's just not even go there.

Well, Nate's napping so I place him on the grass on top of the nursing cover. I sit down next to him. Beka is laying on the grass next to me and Jeremiah's playing with the ring tones on my phone. All is well.

Except for the red&black ants that are crawling all over Beka's back...BITING HER and leaving welts!



Oweee oweee mommy!! They're also crawling on the nursing cover but I squish them before they bite Nate. Ok, EVERYBODY UP! So we stand for the next 20 minutes or so until our bus comes.

Poor Nate didn't get a decent nap in, Beka has bite marks all over her shoulder, I'm exposing myself to a significant percentage of my hometown (hey, I think it's significant) and Jeremiah...well, he's actually pretty content. I guess one out of four isn't too bad.

The light at the end of the tunnel?

I was watching one of those HGTV shows today where they follow first-time home buyers around. This guy had seen over 60 houses and was still looking. His realtor told the camera that if he didn't choose the next house she showed him, she was dumping him as a client because her time was money. Yikes!

My next thought was, "jeez, I hope Bev doesn't feel the same way about us!" you know, since we've been house hunting for a whole 3 months. lol

Well Bev emailed today to say our offer on the BID #5 house was accepted and will be submitted to the bank in the next day or two and that we are the only people the bank will talk to about the house; nobody else will be considered unless we back out.

O-M-G! Really????? Are you serious????

Could this really be our new home?

Bid number 6

Directly across the street from this house

is another house that is exactly the same. Well except it needs to be pained on the inside, the carpet needs to be replaced, as well as most of the blinds, the carpet in the dining room must be ripped out and replaced with tile (seriously, why do people have carpet where they eat?), and the yahoos that lost the house broke up all the concrete on the small backyard patio. So that will need to be replaced too. Oh, not to mention there's nothin' but dirt in the back yard...well along with all those pieces of concrete.

It's not a short sale so within a couple of weeks we should know if our bid was high enough to 'win' (like it's ebay or somethin').

What happened to this house? The silly seller's realtor came back with a counter offer. She hasn't even taken our bid to the bank yet. Last thing she told our realtor was that there weren't any offers but now all of a sudden there are other offers. Why is it that my realtor is the only one with integrity? Love my girl...soooo sick of all the others!
Anyways, we're stickin to our guns. We'll see if that money-hungry, er silly realtor likes them apples.

Loved this

For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.
—1 Thessalonians 2:4

The story is told of a missionary couple who was preparing to retire after many years of service in Africa. The ship they had boarded to return to the U.S. also happened to be carrying President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from a hunting expedition. When they reached their destination and the passengers were disembarking, a crowd of admirers waited to meet the president as a big band played in the background. But when the time came for the missionary couple to step ashore, not a single soul was there to meet them. Discouraged, the husband buried his head in his hands and groaned, "I didn't want a parade, but at least someone could have come to welcome us home!" His wife turned to him and replied, "Honey, we are not home yet."

Harvest Daily Devotional

Our fifth bid is for...

this baby. (Hard to believe we've put in five bids.) Anyways, this house is out in the sticks (the wayyyyyy southwest) but we've found that we can get more house for less bucks out there. So we're meeting up with Bev at church tomorrow to sign the bid papers. I know I've said this before, but Bev thinks we have a great shot at this one.

It's a beautiful house on the inside: 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, split wing, with an office (aka playroom), and I love the kitchen. I didn't take my camera when we went to see it so I have no pics of the inside to share.

So stay tuned. We'll see what happens next...

All on his own

My four year old (well he's nearly five - in about 6 weeks) did this all by himself during snack time. He bit the pretzels to make the letters then arranged the letters to spell a word...all while I was busy with other things. And he asked no questions...no help.









Little smarty pants. Why he chose to spell 'fat' I'll never know.