I had a great idea over the weekend - One that would certainly gain me nomination for the "Wife of the Year" awards. I realized a good place to leave Brad love notes and fun messages would be on the medicine cabinet that hangs above our toilet. (being a boy and all, he spends more time standing in front of the toilet and therefore staring at the wall above it)
With giddy excitement I taped a little note on the cabinet and went along with my day, anxious to hear Brad's response when he found my endearment.
About a half an hour later Brad came to me and said "I found a note floating in the toilet. Is that suppose to mean something?"
Hmmm....I guess I need stronger tape.
February 25, 2009
February 23, 2009
Bunk Beds are Not for Adults
Ever since we had some hard wind around bedtime about 2 weeks ago, Sadie has decided she's too scared to sleep due to the fact that "wind coming". Some nights she's tired enough to fall asleep, but it's rare that she'll sleep all night long. It's pointless to rationalize with her that there is no wind and if there is wind that we are safe in our house.
We are firm believers in the "cry-it-out" method. Unfortunately Sadie is a firm believer in "I can cry longer then you can stand it" method. She's practiced this ever since she was born so you'd think we'd have figured out a solution by now.
We try to let her cry it out when it's convenient, but let's be realistic, when is it convenient to lie awake in the middle of the night listening to your child scream for over an hour?
Our answer to getting a semi-full night sleep is to have Brad or myself go to the girls' room and sleep on the bottom bunk when Sadie wakes in the middle of the night. During one of my times on the bottom bunk I thought of several reasons adults don't sleep in bunk beds.
Bunk bed mattresses are thin, and therefore hard.
There's no box spring, which is amazingly important to the comfort level.
There's only 2 feet between the bottom bunk and the top bunk. That's awfully close when you're an adult.
Getting out of bed when you can't fully sit up, is a challenge.
I guess we'll have to get extreme in our "crying-it-out" method. Watch out for sleep deprived pilots and worship leaders!
We are firm believers in the "cry-it-out" method. Unfortunately Sadie is a firm believer in "I can cry longer then you can stand it" method. She's practiced this ever since she was born so you'd think we'd have figured out a solution by now.
We try to let her cry it out when it's convenient, but let's be realistic, when is it convenient to lie awake in the middle of the night listening to your child scream for over an hour?
Our answer to getting a semi-full night sleep is to have Brad or myself go to the girls' room and sleep on the bottom bunk when Sadie wakes in the middle of the night. During one of my times on the bottom bunk I thought of several reasons adults don't sleep in bunk beds.
Bunk bed mattresses are thin, and therefore hard.
There's no box spring, which is amazingly important to the comfort level.
There's only 2 feet between the bottom bunk and the top bunk. That's awfully close when you're an adult.
Getting out of bed when you can't fully sit up, is a challenge.
I guess we'll have to get extreme in our "crying-it-out" method. Watch out for sleep deprived pilots and worship leaders!
February 18, 2009
Lent Challenge
When lent rolls around every Spring, I like to discipline myself by giving up something between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Let's face it, I always have several bad habit I should correct so it seems like a good idea to focus on one. I've seemed to hit an all-time low on my eating habits so here's my plan for this lent:
Only 1 dessert a week and no eating while I'm standing up.
I thought about giving up all sweet/desserts for the entire time but I don't think it's safe. I'd like to think I'm mature enough to go without the indulgence of sugar, but Brad was a little scared at the prospect of me going ballistic and rightfully so.
I've heard that it's good to always sit down to eat. It helps you not to snack unnecessarily and it makes you think about what you're eating. I've practiced this discipline 2 days this week and I was amazed how hard it is to do successfully. The first day I almost failed before 8am. I was slicing cheese to put on some scrambled eggs and just about ate a slice of cheese. Then I was slicing up bananas to put in the girls' oatmeal and again just about ate a slice.
Hmmm... maybe that's why I never feel hungry. And to think that some people in the world feel hungry more times then they don't.
If anyone's interested in joining me in my lent plan, let me know. A buddy always makes sacrifice easier. Or if you have a different plan in mind, I'd enjoy spurring one another along.
Only 1 dessert a week and no eating while I'm standing up.
I thought about giving up all sweet/desserts for the entire time but I don't think it's safe. I'd like to think I'm mature enough to go without the indulgence of sugar, but Brad was a little scared at the prospect of me going ballistic and rightfully so.
I've heard that it's good to always sit down to eat. It helps you not to snack unnecessarily and it makes you think about what you're eating. I've practiced this discipline 2 days this week and I was amazed how hard it is to do successfully. The first day I almost failed before 8am. I was slicing cheese to put on some scrambled eggs and just about ate a slice of cheese. Then I was slicing up bananas to put in the girls' oatmeal and again just about ate a slice.
Hmmm... maybe that's why I never feel hungry. And to think that some people in the world feel hungry more times then they don't.
If anyone's interested in joining me in my lent plan, let me know. A buddy always makes sacrifice easier. Or if you have a different plan in mind, I'd enjoy spurring one another along.
February 15, 2009
Refreshment in Washington, D.C.
What does it take for me to be refreshed?
Several hours away from kids,
with my husband,
doing something entertaining, but cheap
and eating good food.
That sums up our lovely get-away Friday into Saturday.
Brad had a trip that left Cincinnati Friday morning, went directly to Washington, D.C. and didn't leave until the following morning. My parents graciously came from VA to stay with the girls so I could do the trip with Brad.
We arrived in D.C. around 11:00 Friday morning, grabbed some lunch and headed out for the Metro station. We felt so urban riding the Metro into "The Mall" (that's local talk for the historical sites in D.C.) to spend the day touring The Smithsonian.
Despite being rather breezy, we had great weather for walking around. We saw The American History Museum which was having a special feature on Abe Lincoln, and the Natural History Museum where you can see the Hope Diamond...which, by the way, is a blue diamond. We covered such a small portion of the museums in the 5 hours we were there. They are amazing.
We finished up our day with some delicious Thai food and propping up our weary legs while watching TV in bed.
Janelle outside one of the Smithsonian buildings
Brad and Janelle in front of the Washington Monument
Learning the Metro
Several hours away from kids,
with my husband,
doing something entertaining, but cheap
and eating good food.
That sums up our lovely get-away Friday into Saturday.
Brad had a trip that left Cincinnati Friday morning, went directly to Washington, D.C. and didn't leave until the following morning. My parents graciously came from VA to stay with the girls so I could do the trip with Brad.
We arrived in D.C. around 11:00 Friday morning, grabbed some lunch and headed out for the Metro station. We felt so urban riding the Metro into "The Mall" (that's local talk for the historical sites in D.C.) to spend the day touring The Smithsonian.
Despite being rather breezy, we had great weather for walking around. We saw The American History Museum which was having a special feature on Abe Lincoln, and the Natural History Museum where you can see the Hope Diamond...which, by the way, is a blue diamond. We covered such a small portion of the museums in the 5 hours we were there. They are amazing.
We finished up our day with some delicious Thai food and propping up our weary legs while watching TV in bed.
Janelle outside one of the Smithsonian buildings
Brad and Janelle in front of the Washington Monument
Learning the MetroFebruary 8, 2009
Preschool ideas
Krissy Livingston asked me this morning if I had any suggestions for teaching preschooler basics at home. We didn't get to finish our discussion - as is typical at church - so I've decided to list them here in case anyone else is interested (not that I'm an expert, but it's always nice to get fresh ideas from other moms).
Some of them are my ideas, some of them I gleaned from others. Some of them are a lot better then others, but sometimes you get desperate.
Some of them are my ideas, some of them I gleaned from others. Some of them are a lot better then others, but sometimes you get desperate.
- Give your child a bag (gift bag or tote bag makes this more fun for them) and tell them to find something red to put in it. For older children you can tell them to find 3 things that start with the letter 'B'. Many variations are possible. Make sure they return the item before you give them their next 'assignment'.
- Tape a red, yellow, green and blue piece of construction paper in 4 different spots in your largest room. Using Uno cards, have your child flip over the top card and run to the construction paper corresponding to the color of Uno card they turned over. If you're up to it you can 'race' them to the color and whoever gets there first gets to turn over the next card. This can also be done with more colors and CandyLand cards...or less colors if you remove any you don't want. Another 'boy' option would be to have him fly and airplane to the appropriate 'runway'/ construction paper. Or drive a truck to the right 'garage'.
- Opposite charades: this is one Cathryn Johansson just told me about. Have them act out "near" by standing near you and then act out "far" by standing far from you. You can do big and small by having them reach up high and squat down low. Open and close with their eyes and mouth. Loud and Quiet, Fast and Slow. If you use props you could do full and empty, up and down ect... It might work for older kids to do the opposite of what you ask them to do.
- If you have animal crackers for a snack (or something similar) you can give your child "money" (poker chips) to pay for individual crackers. You can say "this cracker will cost 4 coins." They will have to count out the right amount for each cracker. Some crackers can 'cost' more then others.
- Use a muffin tin to have your child sort out different colored beads. Each well is a different color.
- When you want to clean up all the toys, have the children play "Yes, Mommy." Noelle actually tolerates this about once a week but I don't know if that's normal. You remind them that to obey means to say "yes mommy" and then obey, right away, all the way the happy way. Then say "Noelle." To which she replies "Yes, mommy". Then you give your instruction "Take your shoes back to your room." For some reason when I say we're practicing "yes, Mommy," she wants to show me how well she can do.
- To teach your child how to accept and a appreciate a gift I take an old gift bag, put in any toy (not a new one), put tissue paper on top. Give your child the 'gift' and have them open it. Instruct them how to open the gift, look the giver in the eyes and say thank you. As Noelle's gotten older we've taught her to say something nice about the gift. "I love the color." "I've been hoping for one of these."
- Use "Memory Game" cards to have toddlers find matches (face up)
- Rhyming 'I Spy' - "I spy something on your feet that rhymes with fox. What is it?" "I spy something on your head that rhymes with chair."
- Use the grocery store flyers to have your child circle all the 1's. Another time have them circle the 2's. If you want to go a step further, you can cut out the numbers and help the child glue the numbers on a piece of construction paper. Hang up the pages so your child can see a page of 1's, a page of 2's etc...
- Write or print out a page of letters from the computer and have your child use a highlighter to trace them.
- Play "what doesn't belong?" by having your child look around and find something that is out of place and put it where it belongs (cleaning up in disguise). They get to mark a point for every item then find that 'doesn't belong' that they put away correctly.
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