Where's the sprinkles?

While talking to my sister, Bekah, Saturday afternoon, we exchanged "stories" about what cool thing we were working on. She was excitedly getting ready to steam mop her floors, "Aren't you jealous, Lizzie? I mean, I know that's how you want to be spending your Saturday!"

Um, yeah, that's what I wish I was doing...

"Well, I think I might be cooler Beks. I'm trading out the kids clothes. You know, fall and winter to spring and summer."

Silence.

A bit of snickering.

"Yeah Lizzie, cuz we have seasons and all here in San Diego, I know just what you mean..."

So Beks, just for you, you know, so you can see what you're missing out on living in a season-less city:

Ashlynn helping to lighten the mood of the lovely job:

When Addie and Gage heard what was going on they were super excited. I had announced that we were getting out the spring clothes and they couldn't wait to get started, even offering to help with what they could...

Until the bins started coming up from the basement and getting opened.

Where's the sprinkles? You said we were getting the sprinkles!

Still here.

I have been working on a huge project this week and last. Tomorrow it will be revealed....

For now, enjoy this shot of Addie (Ashlynn was at the camera!). Have a great day!

Scheduling, a dangerous job.

My dear, sweet sister sent me the coolest book on scheduling and organizing my household. She actually bought the book for herself and didn't see the subtitle (that was quite large:-)!) "A Practical Guide to Daily Scheduling for Christian Homeschool Families" and since she is not homeschooling yet, thought it might be good for me.

I read through the entire book in one evening.

It's like 175 pages of organization on steroids. I loved it.

I am not an organized person. Routine, yes. Scheduled, uhhhh...

The next evening I set out scheduling everyone's chart and what our goals for each day would be. It was akin to a really challenging math problem, trying to get all of the time slots for five people to mesh and become cohesive. But, alas, I came out the victor and our schedule was born.

Ofcourse, this all happened by Thursday night and I prepped the kids for it on Friday and let them know we would start Monday. Some of my kids fall into the type A category and begged to start at that very moment, so me being flexible said "sure, why not?".

I don't think that was part of the plan. Oops. Oh well.

Ashlynn started rinsing dishes (her new job) and Gage began to load the kids plates (his new job) and the next thing I knew.....water was all over the floor and Gage didn't realize the rack needed to be pushed in before the door was closed resulting in a broken plate.

Who's idea was this?

The rest of Friday actually went really well and all of the kids had quiet time (so did I!) and we all played together (scheduled now) read together (scheduled now) and made dinner together (also on the schedule). We spent Saturday really cleaning and Sunday was very relaxed. We are now in our official first day and it has been AMAZING!

Seriously, I am so not into schedules; I like to wake up and see where the day takes me. But we have not wasted a moment today, no TV, my house is clean, laundry is done (scheduled to be put away at 3:30), school is done, the kitchen is clean and I know what I making for dinner!

The best part of all, the kids love it. So thank you Nicole, now I'm sorry, but I can only call at scheduled times only.......:-)

A Quick Before and After

Here was our lovely fireplace just a few short days ago, note the darkness (den, anyone?) and the beautiful brass fireplace doors:

And now:

The room is soooo much brighter and livelier now! And I must tell about my finds: the "new" fireplace screen was found on craigslist (love that!) and bought for $15 (they were asking $25), the candlesticks were a garage sale find from last w/e-$2 (they were asking $4 each)!! Now I just need to purchase candles....they'll probably end up being the most expensive part of it :-), but hopefully my coupons will come in handy for that!

It was so worth the "elbow grease", now if I can just finish those curtains.....

MIA

Sorry for my absence of late....but, it's been seventy degrees and gorgeous here! Somehow, I just can't seem to drag myself to the basement and blog, check my email, facebook or really do anything that would require me to be indoors. The kids and I have been basking in the sunshine, planting, weeding, watering, biking, walking, playing on the swingset, going for ice cream and fishing (well, the kids and daddy anyway).

Did I mention we have a new roof? This has been a total answer to prayer and something that we have needed for quite a while. Two days of more noise than you can imagine and voila, a beautiful composite shingle roof. Goodbye wood shingles, you will not be missed, nor will the silver fish and spiders that love you.

Hope you all are enjoying these glorious days of spring, catch you soon!

What's worse?

Randy was in the basement and noticed what looked like mice droppings. Yuck. Double yuck. Quickly, I made a mental rundown of our house and how I would clean every nook and cranny, including pulling the fridge and stove out, to make sure they never came back.

Anyone knows, when you see a mouse, you automatically assume your house must be the slums. It suddenly becomes "infested" and just plain gross. Randy kept reassuring me our house was not "a pit" and this sort of thing just happens.

With clorox wipes in hand I began wiping up the evidence. Then I panicked. These were too big for a mouse, could it be, oh no, please. Not a rat. With a big swipe of the wipe, I took a close look. Suddenly I saw little legs and shriveled up bodies. These were not turds, they were simply large ants.

Whew. That was close.

Laughing I called Colie to tell her about my usual, er, crazy overreaction. My relief was short lived when she made it all too clear that yes, they weren't mouse dropping, but no, they weren't large ants.

They were termites. And finding a large dead pile of them meant they were "active in the structure". Great, just what we needed. Little creatures eating away at our investment. Though, ok, secretly I was still glad it wasn't mice, even if you only have to set a trap and bam, they're gone. Termites....not so easy. So, if anyone knows how to get rid of the pesky, little, wood chewing creatures.....let me know.