11 Things That Happened At Our House This Week

1.  I washed this boot in the washing machine.

Accidentally, of course. I’m no boot nitpick.  I just pulled out the load of sheets and there it was.

I’d like to think it looks noticeably cleaner now, but I may never know because I can’t find the other one to compare it to.  Maybe I should check the dishwasher…

2. We officially entered the stage of “no pens, pencils, crayons, or markers anywhere but the kitchen table. No exceptions.”  Josie is a budding artist but hasn’t figured out which medium she prefers: chairs, floors, walls, counters, blankets, scratch paper, or herself.  Any guesses which option I’m campaigning for?

3. Daniel is in a very physical stage where he wants to “boom” everyone he meets.  We’re working on keeping his hands to himself but he’s not above slashing his hands in the air to make his point.

I was walking the halls at Willamette University with my wiggly boy during Scott’s chorus dress rehearsal Friday night when a university student walked by and said, “Hi,” with a smile for Daniel.   Daniel responded with a fierce look and an air karate chop.  Without missing a beat, this stranger, this stellar example of a human being, clutched his chest, stumbled backwards and sprawled completely out backwards on the floor groaning, “You got me!”  I’m not sure who was more delighted, Daniel or I.  Then the student hopped back on his feet and headed on his way.

4. Scott threw out three of my socks. He thinks holey socks are a disgrace so when he spots one on my foot, he surreptitiously pulls it off and throws it in the trash.  I, on the other hand, think things “still have some life left” so I try to keep my feet out his reach.  Apparently I haven’t been vigilant enough lately.

5. We instituted a few new rules around here: “Whiners run” and “Get into it, get after it”.   

The first means if you whine or kvetch, you head outside and take a lap around the house.  I love it because it distances the kid from the situation, gives them fresh air and some perspective (especially if it’s chilly or raining outside). Whining has never been a fast track to get what you want, but now it’s more obviously a step in the wrong direction. We’ve had a lot less of it, and the kids are pretty agreeable about taking a lap.  Siblings will join in and they’ll often come back smiling.

“Get into it, get after it” means if you get into stuff on the counter or things you shouldn’t, you get after it with 5 pushups.  This is another winner!  It’s making my touchy kids more aware of what they’re doing with their hands. Previously there were unnecessary spills, items gone missing or broken because they’d just walk around messing with stuff.

If you look carefully you’ll see that someone crossed off “whiners run” and replaced it with “whiners play! YAY!”   Yep, the perpetrator got pushups. 🙂

6.  Scott completed his 4th marathon! His training was seriously impacted by our added busyness in building a house, but he got in the arena and finished that sucker.  What a champ. He paired it with a trip to Southern California to visit his great brother.  Unfortunately, he got on the plane right as Josie came down with croup so I had a teary baby on my hip a *lot* while he was gone.
Also: I texted my general contractor that Josie had croup because apparently I text him more than my husband so he’s now my phone’s default? Minorly embarrassing.
I’m pretty much going to turn pro at this house building thing. Ahem.

7. I had a pretty serious heart-to-heart with one of my kids about whether homeschooling is the best fit for them right now.   Oh how I love having them at home, but we have to consider the dynamic of the family as a whole, their relationship with me and their own needs. It’s not an easy choice, but we’ve made some adjustments and we’re going to see if we can get things in a better place while continuing to homeschool.

8. Filed under the category of “bored kids are creative kids”:  All in the same day, my children had a multi-round (outside) peanut fight with a bag of peanuts that had gone stale in the cupboard, I had a daughter make her own stringed instruments out of rubberbands and a plastic play kitchen pan and *tune* it so it played “Old MacDonald” perfectly, and my kids made a dragon trap (AKA a fort with an elaborate back story) in the family room.

None of this required any instigating or oversight on my part, which is good because I was on the phone with subcontractors.  Though, I’ll admit a little more oversight on the cleaning up of the peanut fight would have been nice. Scott came home to a skunk having a feast in our driveway.  It didn’t spray him though, perhaps as a gesture of gratitude for the convenient meal.

9. Scott offered to go grocery shopping (to two stores, with a mile-long list) after he finished performing in a Veteran’s Day concert, and it wasn’t until he was headed home afterwards that I realized he was still wearing his tuxedo for the errand running.

Talk about the man of my dreams, he walked in the door dressed to the nines with bananas and sweet potatoes in his arms.  He also came bearing brand-new, unlooked for pink pajamas for our girl who was pajamaless (yes, mom fail).

If you know my second daughter, you know that her joy was complete and very loudly expressed in squeals of rapture.

10.  We went on an “apple” hunt, which is somewhat less fun than an easter egg hunt, I’ll admit.  We had a sweet boy at our house from Safe Families who has had some food insecurity at home and he kept grabbing apples from our box in the garage, taking a few bites, and hiding them around the house in corners and closets.  I’m reeaaally hoping we found them all!

11.  We saw major progress happening on our home build.  I think our new move date will be somewhere in February, since they’re going to start drywall around Thanksgiving.  (I hope!)