happily random

Four Most Dreaded Words

The four most dreaded words a mother can hear from her child: Mommy, my tummy hurts. I woke up to those exact words from my 8-year-old son last night. On the positive side, I was able to get him set up with a big pot in his bed before the main event began. Finally closed my eyes for the night at about 5 a.m. only to be awoken by the ever delightful sound of my alarm too soon after. Spent most of the day recovering from lack of sleep and doting on my boys (they're both sick now).

The horror of these words is not the single event that follows, but instead the dread that it's going to make its way through the entire household before it's done. It's like a poisonous snake hidden in your home: you're not sure where it's hiding and you don't know when or if it'll strike again.

So now we wait. And disinfect everything that anyone might possibly touch. Maybe, just maybe, it'll pass the rest of us by...

My Philosophy on Chore Charts

I have 4 kids. They make lots of messes. I think the amount of messes grow exponentially with the number of children you have. That said, I am always looking for ways to simplify the clean-up process. I am even wooed from time to time by the adorable chore charts on Pinterest that inspire me to create in the name of cleanliness, organization and sanity. I keep thinking that a chart of some kind or allowance as a reward for chores completed will make for a smooth and seamless system for my children to pick up after themselves with no complaints and whining.

Wrong!

With 36 years of cumulative parenting under my apron (4 kids: 12, 10, 8 & 6... you do the math), I have learned one important lesson: there is no easy way to get your kids to do chores. Unless you have Stepford children -- which I do apparently do not -- kids do not like doing chores. Kids like to play. You can try to make a game out of it, and that may work for awhile, but sooner or later they're going to realize that they are unloading the dishwasher and not playing the XBox and they're going to whine about it.

So, what a mom to do to keep her sanity? Be the mom! You tell them to clean up, then plug your earphones in your iPhone with some righteous tunes (so you can't hear the whining and the 'I-don't-want-to's) and leave them too it. I don't pay my kids for doing chores because 9.99 times out of 10, they're cleaning up a mess that they made. And if they didn't make it, too bad because that's what family does. We all live in this house and are a part of this family, and with that comes certain responsibilities. One of these responsibilities is keep our house picked up. All those times we have tried chore charts and allowances, it just ended up making the process more complicated instead of simpler.

Yeh, I'm a mean mom I guess. I tell my kids what to do and they better well do it. We do lots of fun stuff with them too, one of the benefits of living in this house and being a part of this family. But life is full of things we don't want to do but have to do anyway. Better they learn it from me.

Scalped

After growing his hair out for a year, Luke came home from school yesterday afternoon and told me that he wanted his hair short again. When asked why he said, "Because it keeps getting in my way. Like when I swim, it really slows me down." You would think he was Michael Phelps or something. I remind you, he's nine and the most swimming he does is at the Kroc Center pool.

Anyhoo, what it came down to was that he wanted his cool locks lopped off. Never having cut off that much hair off of anyone before, I must say I had a lot of fun. I went at it with scissors first getting the bulk of the length (and yes, I saved a lock just for me in my jewelry box, I admit it) and then used the clippers to make it look good.

I think he is handsome both ways. He's happy not having it hanging in his face anymore. I'm sure he'll make quite the stir with his classmates today. Boy, that was a lot of hair!

Laying On The Couch Eating Bon-Bons

Today was a momentus day in Doherty family history: all four of our kids went to school. Rebekah started her last year of elementary school as a 5th grader; Luke is now in 3rd grade; Tyler is going all day now as a 1st grader; and Sam is going to school for the first time ever in pre-kindergarten.

Now for the question that I keep getting from everyone: what are you going to do with yourself? It's amazing how quickly the day fills up, especially since Sam is only in school for the morning on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. I spent my first morning child-free drinking coffee and chatting with my friend Heather at Borders. This is not my plan for every school morning but I have no guilt whatsoever in spending one morning each week enjoying this activity. Frankly, it's been a long time coming.

I do have more a more lofty, self-improvement goal to work out a couple of those kid-free mornings each week to see if I can get this flabby body less flabby. Of course I will also be keeping up with those great couponing deals so I can feed our family for cheap and still afford four kids in private school. I am truly hopeful to fully launch our expanded couponing website next month.

I just don't want anyone to worry about me being lonely with an empty house to come home to. It will be hard to concentrate with so much quiet, but I'm pretty sure that there will be little time to be laying on the couch eating bon-bons.

Putting the Great in Grandparents

Because my mom was a single parent most of my growing-up years, we spent the summers with my grandparents in Houston so my mom could work. I credit my grandparents for my coming to Christ in my teen years, as it was their taking me to church every Sunday and sending me to church camp every summer that introduced me to Christ in the first place. Needless to say, I am very close to them both and love them like my own parents.

They still live in Houston -- a long journey for us especially with four children in tow -- it's been 7 years since our last family trip. This past week we were blessed with a quick visit from them so they could meet their last two great-grandchildren that they had yet to see with their own eyes. Both of my grandparents are in their mid- to late-seventies and have never been to the Northwest.

My kids greeted them like they had known them all their lives, although the older two haven't seen them since they were three and one and the younger two never at all. Seeing my children in their arms brought back such happy memories of the months that I spent their as a child. My granddad made pancakes for my kids both mornings of their visit which brings back flashes of sitting in his lap eating breakfast as a child.

It is hard knowing that with their failing health that they won't always be here to see my children grow to adulthood. But it gives me joy beyond belief knowing that they are both proud of me and the lives my husband and I have carved out for ourselves and our children. And I know that even if I am never able to see them again on this earth that there will be a day where we will never again have to say goodbye. I feel truly blessed to have them in my life.

I love you, Grandmother & Granddad.

Pumpkin Torture

Grandma brought home three lonely pumpkins from the store. Unfortunately they did not find a good home with us. Shortly after they arrived we scalped them, pulled out their guts and carved into their faces. Messy, goopy fun!

I must say that we haven't done a lot of pumpkin carving in our home. The pumpkins that usually make their way through our doors are safe from the usual torture... that is until I steam them and make them into pie or bread. That procedure is quick and painless by comparison to the torment we inflicted upon them today.

Sam and Ty have never carved pumpkins before, which explains Samantha's expression when she stuck her spoon in and pulled out a blob of pumpkin guts. "Yuuuuck! Goop!" she hollered. Classic!

For the most part, Grandma and I did most of the gut-scooping as it was a little challenging for the the younger two. Tyler was completely unwilling to stick his hands inside to pull out the mess. Luke, on the other hand, scooped out all the insides of his pumpkin all by himself and separated out each and every pumpkin seed into a bag. Future surgeon? He is determined that we cook up the seeds so that we can eat them.

For the face designs, Grandma drew out a sample on a piece of paper for the kids to choose from before we began carving. Samantha and Tyler picked out a similar design for their pumpkins face carving, but Luke came up with a design all his own that he decided to demonstrate on his own face.

Each of the children were not to be separated from their newly tortured friends at bedtime and took their mutilated pumpkins to their rooms with them. We got battery-operated candles to put inside them, so no safety issues there. I drew the line at letting them actually sleep with their pumpkins, having to put my foot down that they were to stay on their dressers.

Where is Rebekah in all this you wonder? Rebekah is on a warm California vacation with her dad, missing out on all the pumpkin torture here at home.

 

Back to school, Back to Reality

Is it the last day of September already? It seems like just yesterday that school started and now we are full swing into week four. I know I said I was ready for school to start, but I think I might have to print a retraction on that.

I miss getting up after the sun.

I always feel like I'm forgetting something.

Before I realize it, it seems to be 3:30 in the afternoon. I have no idea what happened with the day, I have nothing to show for what I accomplished except that I'm fully dressed and I have no idea what we're having for dinner.

I forget what day of the week it is.

Anyone else feel like they just got on the express train with the first day of school? Maybe it's now having three kids in school? Getting lunches made each morning, hunting for shoes (they always seem to walk away on their own no matter how many times they get put into cubbies), making sure everyone has their homework done and in their backpacks, checking homework, reading the designated amount of time each night, field trips (we have had 2 all ready!), volunteering in class, memorizing memory verses, etc., etc., etc. And my kids aren't even in sports! I can'y imagine adding soccer practices to the mix at this point.

My kids have been back to school since September 9. Rebekah is in 4th grade this year, Lucas is in 2nd grade & Tyler in kindergarten. We decided to hold Samantha out this year, mostly because she is the baby and I'm not ready to part with her for preschool yet, although there are times I question that decision. The three older kids love their teachers and classes and are already back in the swing of things, even if I'm not.

Since it seems that September truly did pass in a blur, I will recount my accomplishments for the month mostly for my own reassurance that I indeed to accomplish things. Maybe this is why I seem to have no time?

1. Washed, dried and put away about 20 loads of laundry. Have I mentioned how much I hate doing laundry? That's why it's #1 on the list of accomplishments. None of my kids go to school in dirty clothes.

2. One of our hens hatched 9 of the 12 eggs that she was sitting on. Since neither Joel and I have ever had a brooding hen, this was very cool to see. She is a great mom. It makes up for the fact that now none of our 3 hens is laying at the moment and we have had to buy eggs for the last month now.

3. Started MOPS again this year and have had 2 meetings. This year I am a Discussion Group Leader, which basically means I host a table of 6 other women at our MOPS meetings. It is something I have wanted to do since I started doing MOPS 5 years ago. Most people start out their MOPS leadership as a DGL, but not me. I went backwards: from Coordinator for 3 years and Council Coordinator with MOPS International for 2 years, now to a DGL. DGLs are the frontlines of MOPS ministry and I'm so excited to finally be in this roll!
4. Started attending the Women's Bible Study at my church for the fall classes. I'm taking a wonderful workshop on a book by Linda Dillow titled Satisfy my Thirsty Soul. I have a tendency not to finish nonfiction books if I don't have a class pushing me along to do so. I guess I need the accountability.
5. Almost ready to launch my couponing website called NW Deal Seeker, so I have been working on all the content for that. Be on the lookout for it to launch in the next month or so! Then I truly will be busy.

6. Along with my friend Jo, I have canned 24 jars of apples, 10 jars of stewed tomatoes & 6 jars of applesauce. This was my first time canning and I appreciate Jo's help teaching me how to do it.

7. We went camping the 3rd weekend of the month, enjoy the last bit of sunshine before the fall really set in.

So, even though my days pass in a blur and I feel like I'm getting nothing done, apparently I am. It's good to step back an take a look at the overall month as it really helps me from feeling discouraged. It also shows my husband that, evidence to the contrary, I don't spend all my time on Facebook or Twitter.