Hiking with the Family

We went on a family hike a couple of weekends ago. We used to go all the time in Arkansas, but it is so hot and humid in the summer the last thing I want to do is go hike! We were blessed with a few days of lower temperatures, and more importantly low humidity (so it actually felt like lower temperatures), so we decided it would be a great day to hike.

On our hikes the boys like to point out everything they see. Just in case someone is with us can't see the big log in the middle of the trail, or the massive rock you have to get around! This time there were lots of "Hey, Mom. Take a picture of this!" So, here is our hike in pictures. We saw.....

spiders that had webs over the trail. I am pretty sure they were trying to catch hikers to eat!


lots of different mushrooms





crazy roots and vines



ummm.....well there were lots of boy-type theories


teepees


snakes


flowers


but MY favorite things to see were my family
looking at who knows what


Someone wants their PawPaw. Out of all the signs on the trail (there are signs all throughout naming different plants) this is the ONLY sign she stopped at and she would not leave!


hiking together


Looking over the bridge


running together


sitting together


walking through the meadow


her curls :)


walking up the stairs on the trail


The Princess Seat

Smart Discipline

As you can imagine, discipline with this many kids is a must! It is also very challanging to find something that works for everyone. The last several weeks we have been trying a discipline plan that was recommended to me. I have been told it works for EVERYONE! As of now, I am a believer.

It is called Smart Discipline by Larry Koenig. Basically, you make out a list of rules. Each child has a daily or weekly chart. They get so many "free" squares a day or week and then they start losing privelages. On each chart you right a rule that the child needs to pay specific attention too (while still following all of the other rules) and you rwrite something positive that they did the day before.

We started out with daily charts for all of the boys. They had three free squares (three chances to do something wrong before they start losing privelages). In each of the other five squares you write a privelage. If that square gets x'd they lose the privelage for that day.

Here are the problems we found with this chart:
1. the boys were rushing through homework or saying they didn't have homework (then getting up the next morning and trying to do their homework before school) so they could have their privelages.
2. Everytime I would tell Andrew he was getting an X, he would cheer. It did not matter how many times I would explain it, he thought a x was a good thing!

So, after a week we had to reevaluate how we did things. We went to the weekly chart. They get 7 free chances for the week and there are five privelages listed.

After pleading many times with the boys and refusing to help with homework in the mornings and telling Caleb if he didn't study I would expect him to come home with a 100 for EVERY. SINGLE. GRADE. in school (which he found TOTALLY unfair and said my expectations were TOO HIGH), I had had enough! Since, ALL of the kids were rushing through or saying they didn't have homework we took away all weekday privelages. I told them that from the time they got home (which is about 5:30 by the time we do swim) until bedtime they were not allowed to do anything but homework (stopping for dinner of course).

THIS finally got their attention, especially when they realized I was serious! Now, the privelages that they chance losing are their weekend privelages! This weekend was the first weekend to lose weekend privelages and they had all lost some! It was hard on all of us. Paul and I would have to remember that certain kids couldn't watch tv or go outside and who could. And let me tell you..they TRIED to get us to forget! For once, no one tattled "so and so isn't supposed to be watching tv because they lost that privelage." The charts ARE NOT mentioned by the kids!!

The charts are hanging up in the kitchen. If I X someones box, I write why it got the X. Then they do not have to question me as to why they got it. As they are learning this is being taken very seriously, they are getting less and less X's.

I had given up on the chart with Andrew for a while, because it just didn't seem like he was getting it. Then I heard him fighting with Caleb and he said "I am going to tell Mom to give you a X because you are being bad!"

His chart went back up RIGHT then! I am obviously a little easier on him because he is still learning the rules. Also, the book says to start them at age 4 with these charts and he is only 3.

The best thing is that this is supposed to cut down on a lot of the lecturing. And it has. Now I just say "You are getting an X because....." and they say "yes maam". Sometimes it is with some attitude, but they do not backtalk (they learned real quick that would earn them another X)!

This weekend (when he was not allowed to do many of his weekend privelages) Caleb asked me to go back to the daily charts. I asked why and he said because he never lost privelages when they were doing daily charts (which is good since they are at school all day). Then he asked me if he could earn back his privelages, which I said no. THAT is when I KNEW I had found a winner discipline plan! They recognize that they have to do their part to get what they want. They also realize this is something we are sticking with :)

Adjustments

The school year is off to good start, I guess. Caleb seems to be really enjoying jr high. The only problem is that he doesn't want to study. He has nagged us for several years to get him a trumpet to play and he has been looking forward to middle school so that he can start band. Well, band started but the first couple of nights we really had to fight him to practice. They were not actually playing at school yet (he just started taking his instrument yesterday and they have yet to start playing), but I knew he needed some time to get used to the fact that he HAD to practice a minimum of 30 minutes a night. He is finally to the point that he is doing it without me telling him.

He is also enjoying swim, although it is obvious that many of the kids on the team have pools and swim regularly. He is holding his own, but when he gets tired he starts swimming underwater, which he is great at. He can hold his breath a long time! Unfortunately, underwater swimming isn't really a part of it! He has finally gotten the freestyle down and he is great at the kicking of the breaststroke, they are working on the arms.

Isaac is night and day difference from last year. This time last year he was failing...more than one class. It took us half the year to figure out he had ADD and get him set with a medicine. He struggled ALL year, but never gave up and worked so hard. He even did a voluntary summer school this summer to help him catch up. He brought home his first paper packet (they only bring home school work every two weeks and we sign it and send it back) last week. He had 10 graded papers. He had one D, 2 B's and the rest were all 100's!! His hard work has REALLY paid off! We spent HOURS every night last year doing homework. He is getting it done in about 30 minutes this year!!

Bryce is making great grades, for the most part. He has been diagnosed with ADD and was put on medicine yesterday. His problems are showing more in behavior than grades. He is having a hard time with spelling and reading comprehension. He can read very well, knows his sight words, etc. His problem is that he doesnt want to take the time to do it. So he skims everything. You cannot answer all the comprehension questions correctly by skimming! As of now (and hopefully it will stay this way) he is on the same medicine Isaac is on. This medicine is only in his system for about 8 hours, so it is out of his system by the time school is out. There are no highs or lows, he doesn't "come off" the medicine (there is no obvious mood swing or any kind of down when the medicine wears off). Isaac has had no side effects (other than a "weird" feeling the very first day he took it). And, he doesn't have to take the medicine when he doesn't go to school.

Homework time is definitely less stressful than it was last year, but I am hoping that we can get Bryce to focus on his spelling and reading a little better and homework time won't be a problem at all!

Ladies Man

We went to a birthday party last night. It was for a four year old, but there were kids of all ages there. Andrew was talking to them ALL, but there was one little girl who was probably 11 or so years old that he was really into. When this little girl was leaving she came to Andrew to tell him bye and ask for a hug. He gave her a hug and then asked if he could have a kiss too!

Then today, a friend of ours that we see daily had been out of town since Wednesday. We had been going down a couple of times a day to let her dog out and every time we went down there Andrew would get upset that she was not there. Today, though, we were outside when they were coming home from getting dinner. They stopped to say high and Andrew went to see her.

She opened the door to the truck and he climbed in. He put his hand on her chest and said "Where did you get these?" She assumed he was talking about dinner and said the name of the food joint. Then he put his hand back on her chest and said "Where did you get these?"

Her husband was in the car and starts laughing. She answers "Ummm, from God?!"

He has always been a boobman. He used to only go to sleep if he had his "pillows" to sleep on. But, I think it is taking it a little far if he is asking other women where they got theirs from :) Yeah, obviously she had a bit more than he is used to!!

I am gonna be in SOOOOOO much trouble soon! I already have one that thinks because he is in middle school he HAS to have a girlfriend! I still have three to go behind him. I don't hear Dad talking about putting the boys in burlap sacks and making them have ratty hair like he does his little girl!!

What's a mom to do?

Ashamed

Mady loves Sesame Street! I do too, because Mady and Andrew will BOTH sit and watch it. An hour of quiet (except the sounds of Elmo and giggling from my kids). I know - mother of the year award is headed my way!! I am letting the tv "babysit" my kids. Really, I'm not. I am sitting here with them. Just letting the tv entertain my children for a while, so I can have a small break from that job!

Here is what I am ashamed about...I usually have a cup of coffee in the mornings. There is just no time for me to eat when I am feeding the kids and trying to make lunches and get everyone dressed, oh and let's not forget getting homework finished that last night everyone swore was done, yet every morning someone magically "remembers" that they did, in fact, have ONE MORE THING that they were supposed to do. But, I digress. By the time I have the chance and energy to grab something to eat, I don't wanna because then the kids, who had a filling breakfast no more than two hours ago, are STARVING! No snack will do! They MUST have what I am trying to eat. It is the only thing that will do. At least one of them will not take no for an answer. Now, I have NO problem ignoring their temper tantrum when they don't get their way. But, it is very hard to eat with a one year old pulling my pants off while screaming at the top of her lungs (and she has some VERY healthy and powerful lungs, I might add). It just isn't worth it! So, I typically wait until I put them down for naps and then I eat.

Well, that isn't working for me today. I am STARVING! I turn on Sesame Street and pray for Elmo or Abby Cadabby to show up and fast! Then, while my two angels sit lost in Elmo's World, I sneak into the kitchen. I VERY quietly open the refrigerator. YUM!! Homemade chicken tenders and mashed potatoes are staring at me. I stand there contemplating. It is ONLY 9 in the morning. That is for lunch and it is TOO early for lunch. Then I glance in the living room. They are still in Sesame Street land. I must think fast!

I grabbed the chicken and potatoes and quietly pop them in the microwave. Then I sit at the bar and eat, all the while I am hiding my food! I keep glancing over my shoulder to make sure that they are still watching tv. Then it hits me. I am sneaking food! I am so desperate to eat something without feeding it all to my starving children that I am actually HIDING my food!

Sesame Street has to do a clip on real kids (as opposed to puppets which is the only things Mads likes). I glance over my shoulder just in time to see Mads rounding the couch with one of AJ's shoes on and a hat sat gangster-like on top of her head (oh, I love her accessorizing, she makes her momma proud! You might also notice that her big toe is sticking out of the shoe).

I quickly, but carefully so she doesn't see my loot, put the food on the counter on the other side of the bar and hide my face while I finish chewing my food!

What has my life become?

Just FYI: I did finish my food without having to share!

Good Kids, Bad "Grown-ups"

I walked in to the dealership excited. I had SOO missed my bus and learned that I was very glad that we never bought a minivan! I drove one for a week, and it just doesn't work for our family! They had had the bus for a week while they worked on the brakes and replaced the DVD player. Don't ask me which I wanted fixed more, the brakes or the DVD player....the answer might be disturbing to some!

When we went to have the problem looked at, I had all five kids with me. We were there for four hours! The kids were perfect. In fact when we left someone working there asked if all the kids had been there the whole time. WHen I said they had, she said she never heard them! I was so proud!

My excitement on pick-up day was short-lived. We walked in the service door to the receptionist to pay our bill. We are "greeted" by a woman with a wrinkled up nose that says "Man! Y'all have a lot of little ones!" We did our normal smile, snicker and agree. Usually it ends there. But not with this lovely ray of sunshine! "Are you having any more?" We respond with the normal "no". She SIGHED and said "GOOD!!"
Then she scans all the kids and says "No wonder you are done...you were just wanting HER!" as she pointed to Mady.

Seriously??!!

She doesn't stop there. Mads was sitting on the counter while I was getting my debit card out. The lady grabbed Mady's curl in between two fingers and said "Are you ever going to cut off her one curl?"

About this time this Mama is about ready to hit this lady! Who knew the number of children I (someone that will only be in her life a total of 10 minutes) have would so directly effect this woman's life? I cringed that she had touched my beautiful baby and that she wanted me to CUT OFF HER CURL!!! I simply responded that NOONE would come near her hair with anything that cuts because it took her 16 months to get what she had and it was JUST NOW starting to grow in well!

A few minutes later, Mady got the hiccups. After several times of her hiccuping the woman says "You sure are burping a lot, little girl!"

Someone got up on the MEAN side of bed that day!! Thank GOD it was not me! :)

And for the record, my children were behaving (and definitely much better than SHE was). She was very rude to the people that worked there too!

Punch to the Stomach (Or Heart)

Junior high is hitting me a lot like kindergarten did when Caleb started school. I did pretty good when I dropped him off Thursday morning for the first day. There was craziness stirring all around, so it kind of kept my mind off what was happening. However, as I sat in line to pick him up and I saw him in the crowd of kids, all wearing their nicely pressed, first-day-of-school uniforms and their student id badges, he looked SO grown up.

To make matters worse, on the second day of school as I am in line to drop him off he asks if Harvard will look at his tardy record when he is trying to get in to their school. I said probably not and he responds with "I really should look in to what their requirements are, I only have a few more years before I will be applying you know."

Yeah, it felt like someone punched me in the stomach!!

Then to help a heartaching Momma feel even better, Friday night we are watching tv and Caleb has an epiphany. "Oh! I am in middle school! That is when you start dating!! I need to start watching for a girl for me and all those dances!"

Double punch to the stomach!

Family Photos

Since I love to torture my family, I made them do more family pictures! We tried to do family pictures in the morning, but it was too bright for my light sensitive children, so we decided to come back in the evening after dinner. That is why their WHITE shirts are dirty! Poor planning, yes!