Random

I have a cold. It's really the first one I've gotten this year. As soon as I would hear about something going around, or as soon as I saw my kids even start to sniffle, I got out the Airborn and started taking it. This cold snuck up on me, though. That is why I am relaxing and taking some time to update my blog.

The last two weeks have been a little bit crazy for me. Robert got a new job and it took him to Oklahoma City for some training. He left on a Sunday and got back on a Friday. So for 5 days and 5 nights I was alone with the kids. We did okay. We had a few struggles, the housework fell behind a little bit, but we also found some things we really liked.

One of those things happened in the evening. One evening I was doing the dinner dishes with Lindsey and Taylor was reading stories to the other two little kids. After we finished dishes, Lindsey joined them and all 4 kids were cuddled up on the recliner while Taylor read. They loved it so much that they didn't even want to talk to their dad when he called because they were in the middle of the story. I liked this so well that when a friend invited me and the kids to go play one of the nights Robert was gone, I chose to stay home and enjoy the peaceful evening with the kids reading stories. It also helped them to calm down and get ready for bed easier.

The other thing I really like was actually putting the kids to bed. Robert in the past has put them to bed, so I was really worried about doing this. The kids bedrooms are opposite each other and I took a chair and sat right in the middle of the hallway. The kids got in their beds and snuggled down while I read stories. I found a list of stories to read to young children, so I decided to work through some of the list. The first story I read them was Rip Van Winkle. They loved it! Then we read Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling, and now we are working our way through Pinocchio. My kids are loving these stories. I love that they have good morals and they are classics. I am seriously thinking of making a list of some of the books from this list to give when people want to know what my kids need for Christmas/birthdays.

In my need to simplify some things, I am leaning away from getting toys for my kids. I'm not against them having any toys to play with, but they have SO many already. They don't even play with half of them, and then they end up throwing a bunch on the floor looking for the one they want, but they don't want to put the ones they've throw out away. I need to do a great purge, but I need to maybe get the kids out first.

Also along this line, I want to share experiences with the kids for their birthdays instead of buying them "things". It's one thing if they need a pair of pants or something, but to just buy them something because it's their birthday, I'd rather give them an experience. Lindsey just had a birthday and wanted to go to Agri-Action for her birthday. It was great! It cost us just $2 to get the whole family in. She got to climb all over and inside of big tractors and little tractors, sit on really cool lawn mowers and eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. She got a cool bag, a magic pencil that changed colors with heat, some candy, and a key chain flashlight. I know there were a few other things she got, also, but I can't think of them right now. Now how could I beat that with a toy that she may or may not play with? And to think, Agri-Action is almost always right around her birthday, so we could make it a tradition if she wants. Now don't worry, she did get some toys and fun things for her birthday. That is what Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles are for.

This is all a little random, I guess. I'm going to blame it on the cold making my brain fuzzy. Anyway, that is what I've been up to.