We... are babies.

For the past several days I've noticed the AC hasn't been working properly. It's been very humid in the house and the temp has been hovering at about 78. I just assumed it was because it's been 90+ outside and humid as can be.
Well the gas company came out to change our meter and when he went in to relight the pilot he came to find me with "maam, you have a little problem here"
UH OH.... go out there and the AC is sputtering water. Fantastic.
Call the repairman and he says turn it off NOW... Ughhhh.

By this point I was feeling near tears... this is the type of thing Joe deals with. The repairman said he'd be out sometime tomorrow afternoon. I called Joe and whined. He said to go to a hotel and not to worry about it.

I'd like to tell you at this point in the story I sucked it up and we're sitting in the hot house dealing..... but that's not what happened. I.. am a wuss. It's plain and simple. I packed up my kids, grabbed their swimsuits and PJs and we went straight to the hotel. We did have a lot of fun swimming though and plan on doing it again tomorrow... right up until they kick us out ;)
So I'll admit it I'm a baby... but I'm not hot and the kids are happy and comfy and sleeping so I'm ok with that. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a day filled with a fixed air conditioner. ;)

Just a little update... our air conditioner is now fixed and our house is nice and cool again :) I wanted to add some pics that I snuck of the kids wiped out in the hotel room because clearly a pictureless post breaks my rules ;)

Amelia and Anna in the crib there

Audrey and Avery

And sweet chivalrous Peyton insisted he be the one to sleep on the floor because he's a boy and he's tough :)

Snow, Snow everywhere

I know I've been sparse lately so I figured I'd show you why. There's 2 reasons, 1 we've been busy playing in the snow and 2 we've been tearing our house apart thanks to the freezing temperatures.

We have had SO much snow here this year. We never get snow like this... the kids are loving it. I don't mind the snow outside... it's the snow inside that bothers me ;)

About a month ago we had a pipe burst in our laundry room. It flooded our schoolroom, downstairs bath and office. We had to remove a wall in the laundryroom, one in the bathroom and 2 in the schoolroom. Since we had to take down 2 walls in the schoolroom we decided to take down all the wood paneling. Also while repairing the pipe we found we had another leak somewhere. While trying to find it we ended up ripping out the entire 2nd bathroom leaving us down to 1 bathroom for 8 people. I am happy to say as of today the schoolroom is almost done. We will focus on that and NOT the things that aren't done. ;)

And with that thought I'll leave you with some fun pictures of the snow OUTSIDE

shhhh... but I think the chart is working!

The Naughty Spot.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. We have reached a point where I simply cannot teach unless I contain the beast we lovingly call naughtybelle. She likes to do everything she can to bother us during school.. or if we thwart her efforts there she will wander the house looking for naughty things to do... think she likes to be in the spotlight?

So comes the naughty spot out of pure necessity to remain sane. I've never had to discipline an 18 month old before... I could always distract and deter. Not her she will not be distracted from her plight. So I've had to start putting her in here for 60 seconds when she won't stop shoving everyone's things off the school table, or using the stool to steal things, or...well you get the idea. It's not long but it's very effective... I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I've won... but I know better. ;)

It's a darn good thing she's so cute because she's sure given me a run for my money just when I thought I was starting to figure this parenting thing out!

A desperate attempt to simplify my life

Why is it things meant to simplify my life always are so complicated to set up? I spent an embarrassingly large chunk of my day today setting up this new chore/job system for the kids.

I searched online for pictures to represent each personal hygiene/ chore/ school subject I need the kids to accomplish. Then I printed them all out and cut them out. I attached each picture to a color coded card.

Orange for morning jobs… get dressed, brush teeth ect., Blue for night jobs, Green for Daily chores, Red for weekly chores, and yellow for school subjects that need done.

Each child has a colored section on the rainbow pocket chart. The day starts with their morning items on their top row, then I switch it to school, then night items.

The second row is for chores. Daily chores stay up well… daily and I’ll add the weekly chores as they need done.

Once an item has been completed the card is turned around so the back is facing out and I know that is done.

I made records for each child I will print out weekly and will keep track of what they get accomplished every day for allowance purposes and accountability.

I’m praying this works because I feel like I’m drowning in a sea of can’t get it all done. Having the kids more responsible for themselves would change my life right now.

In other news I thought Amelia's mash potato sculpture deserved some recognition as well. It's a monkey if you can't tell. ;)