Exploring the World

I think that one of my favorite things about being a mother is watching our children explore the world and see things for the first time.  We took our son Peter (14 months old) to the zoo and although there were many amazing and majestic animals to see I could have sat there and watched him the entire time.  He was entranced by the fish, giggled at the penguins and loved the giraffes.  He would just stand there and watch, and I would just stand there with tears in my eyes watching him.  I know that in a blink of an eye he will be 5, 10, 15 years old and I just love being able to be with him during all of these first moments.  His curiosity and excitement for the world helps us all see everything in a new, clearer, more pure light.  

I also adore how he is in this beautiful stage that he wants to explore the world with gusto, and then crashes in the most beautiful rest.  I don't know about you, but I adore watching our babies sleep.  I have learned more and more with each child to cherish the moments that they fall asleep cuddling with me and just cuddle a little longer.

This little one, he is simply full of joy.

Our New Chore Routine

A lot of people make comments when they hear that we have all boys like, "Oh that's too bad that you don't/won't have helpers for housework and in the kitchen."  WHAT?!  I know that I, and I assume a great amount of people hope and expect that men know how to and eagerly pitch in around the house.  I am very blessed that my husband is incredibly handy around the house and a fantastic cook (truly much better than I am).  I want and expect all of our children, no matter what the gender to help and contribute to our home.  

We have done chore charts in the past, and randomly asked children to help with different tasks, but I felt like we needed something new.  That's when I made this simple chore sticks that are color coordinated (I only had two red sticks so we have four orange to make up for it!). The sticks stay in a cup on the kitchen counter.  When the kids wake up and come downstairs our oldest three children (3 years, 5 years, 7 years old) all pick a stick of each color.  Whatever chores are listed on the sticks that they get are there chores for the day.  Once they complete their chore the stick goes back in the cup for the next day.  Super simple, and I have learned with time that sometimes the most simple things are what work the best.

Along with household chores we also made a category of what I would call "kindness".  I do not want them only to be kind as a "chore", but I do want them to really remember to do something intentional each day.  So the purple chore sticks say "Give someone a kiss", "Give someone a hug" and "Do something nice".

So far it has worked really wonderfully.  They each have "favorite chores" so it was a bit of a struggle in the beginning if someone else got that chore that they wanted.  They have learned though that we expect them all to learn all of the different chores.  

I have learned that I need to let them do it their own way and not follow after them to re-do or "improve" upon their task.  I have been very impressed how after doing each skill only a few times that they really do it quite well.

Helping chip ice and lay salt down after an ice storm

Watering the plants 

Cleaning the Kitchen Floor

We have been really having the kids help a lot more in the kitchen lately and not only has it been a lot of fun it is also very helpful.  Our oldest son (now 7 years old) learned how to independently make his own and his brother's breakfast before our 4th son was born in 2015.  Lately our 5 and 7 year old can even make scrambled eggs, sausage and toast pretty independently as well in the mornings (so they don't have to have cereal/bagels/yogurt/fruit every morning)!  They are now learning to help more in making lunches and dinners.

Also, please tell my that I'm not the only one who feels like there is a MOUNTAIN of laundry to do constantly.  I have what feels like a great laundry plan, yet the folding and putting away of laundry can still often be a daunting task!  My laundry schedule typically looks a bit like this:

Sundays - Off
Monday - One load of clothes, Bedsheets from Master
Tuesday - One load of clothes, Everyone's Bath Towels
Wednesday - One load of clothes, Catch up with Folding/Putting Away from Previous Days
Thursday - One load of clothes, Kids Bedsheets
Friday - One load of clothes
Saturday - One load of clothes, Extra Kitchen Towels/Cleaning Rags, etc

That's a minimum of 10 loads of laundry per week!

Well, I decided that I was no longer going to be the only one to chip in.  After only about 1-2 weeks of teaching our 3, 5, and 7 year olds can ALL start a load of laundry (laundry Pods make putting in the correct amount of detergent super easy), and also switch it to the dryer and start it!  YEAH!  One child is then assigned to helping me fold and one child helps to put kids clothes in their correct drawers.

So, that is what is working for our new chore routine for now.  The other great and simple thing is when we want to switch chores up, take some away, add some new ones I can easily do that!  What do you do to have your children help around the house?  Any fantastic tips?

Being at Home

January comes and between illnesses that creep in and the winter chill it truly becomes a month of being at home.  Although we sometimes feel restless and I sometimes realize that it has been days since I have been out of the house we have really learned to love just being together at home.  The blessing of homeschooling during these early years is that the structured school time of workbooks, etc only takes 1 - 2 hours per day.  That truly allows us the rest of the day to play, rest and explore together.

We started piano lessons this past fall and I adore having our home filled with the sound of music throughout the day.  I feel like someone is constantly playing, and honestly there is sometimes fighting about who's turn it is.  Our oldest two sons have started playing duets together, and it is adorable.  Even my husband and I are playing the piano a lot more with the children's new interest.  When someone isn't playing the piano we have been loving to listen to The Maestro Classic Collection.  I love how the classical music goes along with wonderful storylines and how our children do not even realize that they are learning; they are just enjoying beautiful music.  We also recently got a handful of Westco Educational Products musical instruments.  We had been working on learning how to keep a beat and tempos.  They have been a lot of fun for our entire family.

We have been playing lots of games and doing lots of puzzles.  We have moved up from the toddler/kid puzzles of 30-50 pieces to the regular puzzles of 350-500 pieces and although they take all day and a joint effort to complete I love doing them with the kids.  We have been playing Candy Land with army men (since we have lost all of the regular game pieces) and our oldest two sons are both getting very good at playing Chess (as am I, as I never played before teaching the two of them).

There has been a lot of football!  Coming from a gal who NEVER watched sports growing up this has been a big change for me, but I wouldn't have it any way.  We go to Mass on Sunday mornings, get donuts, come home and spend time together in the afternoon and get ready to watch the game.  All of our boys, even Peter our 1 year old loves playing football.  We were sad that the Packers lost in the playoffs, but overall they did a great job this season.

Ryan, who is now 7 spends most of his day reading or "playing army" (or combining his passions by reading about the Army and war history).  He loves to explore nature and be outside.  He and I just finished reading The Swiss Family Robinson together and I am pretty sure that now he just wants to live in a tree house.  We have been limiting electronics and TV time but he loves Popular Mechanics for Kids.  He has the biggest heart and loves helping with his brothers and playing with his dogs.

Connor, who is 5 years old has really grown up this past year.  He has matured so much emotionally and surprises us every day with his compassion for others.  He is our sentimental and appreciative child.  He is always incredibly helpful and loves to learn.  Homeschooling him is a breeze and he since he loves reading so much he directs his own learning so much.

Our Luke, who is 3 1/2 years old is a spunky, emotional, loving pre-schooler.  He loves his momma and for anyone else can be quite a handful at times.  His favorite word is "HUMPH", which he says whenever he just doesn't want to talk about a particular topic.  He loves to cuddle, as he would sit and listen to books being read to him for hours.  Just this past month he came to me to tell me that he wants to learn how to read.  I thought it may be a bit early, but following his lead we started How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (which our two older sons used) and he is on lesson 15 already and doing fantastic!!  He loves to paint and do Dot to Dot Markers which he calls his "ink projects" while his big brothers are "doing school". 

Oh, our dear Peter.  He is now 14 months and a ball of joy, fun and energy.  He is a walking, maybe I should say a running machine.  He is all over the place and so, so, so much fun!  He is babbling all of the time and already says a handful of words, "Mama, Dada, Cup, Ball, Up, Hi, Bye-Bye, This, Uh-oh, Moo (which he responds for ANY animal sound), Go, and probably a few more that I cannot recall right now.  He adores his big brothers, and does such a great job with not needing constant attention.  He will walk around and play while we are doing school working on peg puzzles, driving around cars or trains and more.  He is incredibly cuddly and loving.

We have been going out every now and again for fun field trips to the zoo or museums, but most of all I am just loving this phase of life with these young men and adoring just being at home!