Cleaning Games

A few months ago I was burdened to write down some of the ideas I have thought up (out of desperation) over the last few years to help me with my housework.  I posted it on our local homeschool loop and someone from the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) contacted me and asked me if they could publish the artical in the next NICHE Newsletter! (Which, I might add, now-a-days takes on the look of a "real" magazine!)  I was thrilled, and said, "YES!" Here is a copy of the artical:

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Like many modern homeschooling families, we have a relatively large family. We started out with my husband’s three kids, then we had five more. With two of the older children moved on, we still have six at home, and all the laundry and mess that goes with it. Add homeschooling to it all and whew! Sometimes you would think a tornado went through here!
Our children at home are now 19, 11, 7, 6, 4 and 18 months. We can whip up a mess in no time! It isn’t just the kids, I have some bad habits that certainly add to the chaos, as well. The mess sometimes drives me crazy. Some days it seems like I clean all day, and never seem to make a dent. I tried “Flylady” and “Emily Barnes” and more books than I dare to mention (even “The House That Cleans Itself“)! Funny, reading all those books didn’t do a thing for the condition of our home!
During my pregnant/nursing years, I had to get creative. What works during one season of your life doesn’t always work for the next, but I thought I would write down some of my ideas, hoping to remind myself of what has worked in the past, also to help those who are in the thick of it!


1) Playing “I Spy” is a great game for pregnant and nursing mothers! You sit on the couch or in a chair and “spy” the toys and things that mysteriously end up all over the living room. This is a good opportunity to train them to put things away where they belong. You may need to follow the younger children, or put an older child with a younger child to help train them to put things away properly. If you don’t’ have children old enough to help in this way, you could have the child bring the items to you, then at least you won’t have to bend over that baby-belly and pick things up off of the floor. You could also try having a different basket for each room and the children can sort the items according to which room they go in.


2) Scavenger hunt: my eleven-year-old daughter invented this game. She walked around the house and made a list of out-of-place items in the room. When she would call off the item, the children would have to find the item. This could be good for an early reader, too if you had him read off the list. The items may or may not be all in one room. This one takes a little more time than “I Spy” and would be better if the house is “kind-of” messy rather than a disaster.


3) “The Cleaning Race” is my favorite cleaning game. The best way to “play” this game is if you have recently had your home really clean, what I call “company clean” (clean enough to allow company to visit). It may take a day or two (sometimes it takes me a week!) to get the house that clean, then every day after that, you do the cleaning race. What we do is start at the entrance of our home, where our family primarily comes in, which is in the attached garage. We all line up at the back door, like we are going to have a race. I ask three questions: 1) “Why do we do this?” (Answer: to be good stewards of what God gives us!) 2) “How do we do this?” (Answer: as to the Lord and not to men!) and 3) “What is teamwork?” (Answer: everybody helps everybody until the whole house is clean!) We put our hands together like a team would do before they begin a game, shout “TEAMWORK!” and “GO!” And the race begins! We rush around the garage, picking up shoes and coats and putting things away. Next we move into the mud/laundry room and pick up shoes and bags and laundry and whatever else is on the floor there. Next is the kitchen: cleaning up from the last meal, sweeping the floor, washing and putting away dishes, and changing the tablecloth. After the kitchen we do the living room, then the bathroom, hallway and finish in the kids’ bedroom. If I call it a “race” they hurry through it, even when I forget to set a timer! If I just say “we are going to clean the house” the results are not so good. We started this at the beginning of our summer vacation and did it every day, except sometimes we skipped Sunday, then had twice the mess to clean up on Monday. Once we started school, it was hard to squeeze the cleaning race into our schedule, and we got really behind! But we had Grandma & Grandpa over this past weekend so we had incentive on Saturday to kill ourselves cleaning the house, now the cleaning race is not such a big deal! When you are trying to keep it clean, rather than cleaning all the time, with (seemingly) never an end in sight, everyone has a much different attitude about that nasty phrase: “clean the house”.


4) “The Sock Game” At our house we have a laundry basket which is about half-full of socks that don’t seem to have matches, I call it the “dead sock pile”. Every few weeks or so, I spread out all the socks on the living room floor. I organize them into rows then the children take turns finding matches. Even the four-year-old can play this, or even three-year-old with a little help. There is always a reward for playing all the games for us it is usually candy or playing a game together so we can enjoy our clean house and the extra time Mommy has because they helped so much.
I made a spin chart to assign chores to different kids. I spin the chart each day so they don’t have the same chores every day. Here is an example of our spin chart: child #1 unloads the top left dishwasher rack (Left, being left of the dishwasher, which is cups, mugs & glasses), feeds the pets, sweep kitchen; child #2 unloads the top right dishwasher rack (little plates and plastic storage containers), cleans the bathroom (each child has a different region according to their age capabilities - sink, toilet, trash- the 19 year-old gets the bathtub); child #3 unloads bottom dishwasher rack, is in charge of living room clean-up and helps with meals. The four-year-old puts away silverware and empties the bucket of vegetable peelings & coffee grounds in the garden.
I do laundry for my husband & myself and towels. Anyone over 10 does their own laundry. Our 19-year-old daughter does everyone else’s. Practically every morning we have a basket of clean towels and washcloths to fold and put away. I separate the 4, 6 & 7 year-olds to different parts of the room, then I start sorting the clean towels. “Seven” gets big towels, “Six” gets kitchen towels and hand towels; “Four” gets washcloths. About the same time I finish sorting, they finish folding!
Keeping the home clean with a large family really does take teamwork. When I switched from a “just do it” attitude to a “good stewardship” attitude, everything changed. I hope that someone will find these ideas helpful, and keep in mind, you are not alone!
Judy


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So when the newsletter arrived, I sat down in my total-disaster-of-a-house and read the artical I wrote about keeping house!  LOL!  Thankfully, I inspired myself!  I am happy to say, that as I write this, we have re-intituted the cleaning race and our home is quite tidy!  "On your marks, get set, GO!"






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OK, Lord, OK! I give up...

my pants!  Whoa!  Where did that come from?!  Well, I guess you could say, YEARS of prep work by the Holy Spirit... and I have run out of excuses!  I used to criticize women who always wore skirts.  Then, after noticing who was wearing them, I started getting a little curious and started asking people:  "Do you always wear a skirt?" and "Why?"  Usually the "why" was because their husbands liked it or wanted them to.  That was easy.  So I asked Dallas and he laughed.  "No!  That isn't practical for your 'job'."  (You know, on the floor changing diapers and mopping us messes all the time!)  So I put if off.

But the Spirit kept prodding.  But I had plenty of excuses:  my feet hurt and it looks dumb to wear tennishoes with a skirt... I am too cold in the winter to wear a skirt... I don't have very many skirts.  People will make fun of me (more family than friends)... Sometimes it is intimidating to an unsaved person, like you are 'holier than thou' because they aren't dressed that way...  I can be modest and feminine in jeans or pants...

One by one, the Spirit has gently lead me through each one.  He has even helped my feet feel better so I can wear more "normal" shoes! (That is IF I can find them narrow enough that they don't fall off my feet!)  Once the weather warmed up, He said, "OK, this is it!"   He lead me to a very convincing website that has been very encouraging and convincing.  www.achristianhome.org/ModestFeminine  After reading several of these articles, I cleaned out my jeans drawer and filled the space with the casual denim skirts He has provided via garage sales and thrift stores.

The next dilema would be "How will Dallas react to t his?"  Well, he never said a word!  Now about my daughters, they have always worn pants, too.  I provide for and dress Mary and Leah, they are easy.  But what about Corah?  She used to love dressing up and wearing pretty dresses when she was little, but by my example, she has mostly worn jeans in recent years.  So I gave her an article to read and waited to see the results.  Next day, she got dressed in jeans.  OK, I wasn't going to shock her and make her suddenly change.  Two hours later, she changed on her own!  When I asked her why, she said, "I am going to wear skirts from now on!"  (Isn't she so sweet?!)  My hope, is that she will have her own convictions on the matter.

I couldn't make the switch until I had developed my own convictions, so that when someone asked me, I would have my own answer.  So here it is:  I feel more feminine in a skirt.  It reminds me who really wears the pants in the family (my submission).  I feel more modest in a skirt, since women's jeans are so tight, focussing on the shape of the hiney (which is information to be kept between me & Hubby!)  And, of course, don't forget the Scripture!  Deuteronomy 22:5 "A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman's garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God."  (I know this is a big debate, but how would you feel if your husband wore a skirt?!)    1 Timothy 2:9, 10  "...that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works."

So there it is!  Why I surrendered my pants to the Lord.

When times get tough...

I have tried to keep all of my (few) posts fun and up-beat.  But when something TERRIBLE happens to one of your kids, it is hard to think of something worth smiling about.  Tyler ended a bad relationship and it turned out to be a nightmare.  Please pray for God's comfort on him, and for God's righteousness to rule.  I guess when Momma prays, "bring him to his knees,"  you just don't know what you are going to get.  With some people it doesn't take much.  With others it takes a lot.  And still, others just never learn.  I believe Tyler has learned a lot this time!  I am glad he lives close so we can be there to help him pick up the pieces, and for our homeschool community who has been so helpful and supportive (at least the ones who know what is going on.)  We mommas need each other.  Our experiences help us to help each other.  Sharing these experiences draw us closer to each other, as we point each other to the cross.  Praise the Lord.  Pray for Tyler and some of the decisions he needs to make regarding the situation.

I'm Back!

I started this blog while I was on Christmas break and had more time....  then we started school again!  We all took turns being sick, with Joseph still being somewhat sick with a slight cought and a plugged nose.  His body is trying to fight it, the glands in his neck are so swollen, one sticks out visibly!  I guess I had better break down and take him to the doctor.  I am trying a new (to me) product from Beeyoutiful.com called "Berrywell" but time will tell if it actually works.

Let's see, what has happened since my last post?  Well, the Zander family Christmas went really well.  Unfortunately, Dallas' brother & his wife didn't come, but they sent their son Colin along with Grandma & Grandpa.  Since we had to reschedule due to illness, Darci's (Dallas' sister) kids were with their dad that weekend.  I had really hoped to spend December 27 with my mom & dad since it was Mom's 85th birthday, but we were coughing, not something you want to do around 85/90 year old people!

I had to pull Corah out of Acts Academy for academic reasons this semester.  That has been hard, but she is learning about using her time wisely and pushing herself to stick with the homework.   She really misses her friends, so hopefully by the end of this week she will be 100% caught up and can keep up for a few weeks and go back.

Let's see, what else has happened?  A lot of snow and cold!  The winter seems to be dragging on and on, with the exception of this week, its in the 50's!  Everyone is so happy, except Joseph, who tried to have a sleddin party in December, but all the snow melted.  Tomorrow he turns 8 and his "sledding party" is Friday... after a week of 50 degree days!  Poor Joe.  (I can't believe he is turning 8!)

This week we are taking off school for the sake of my sanity.  Cleaning, organizing, and just taking a break.  We will do it again in April.  It works out Dallas could get off the week of Joseph's birthday and Corah's in April!  The April break is also turkey season!

A special birthday took place in January.  Our Molly turned 13!  If you do the math, that makes her91 in dog years!  She has not endured the extreme cold too well, but she and Kate (the puppy) snuggle in the dog house and keep each other warm.  She is such a grandma to the pup.  She is always trying to help us chase off the males that are coming from all over the neighborhood to seek out this young female dog, who, I assume is in heat!  I can't believe we are debating to get her spayed or not!  I say "Let's get her to the vet!"  Dallas (Of all people!) says, "Let's pick a dog to breed her with."  Crazy.  If we don't decide quick, the blue heeler down the road will get her.  Here is a recent picture of Molly:

Christmas 2010

This would be the first Christmas to host the Zander family at our house!  I was excited and nervous.  We have been having it at a community center for the last 4-5 years and people just want to be in a home for Christmas, so we volunteered.  Brave of us, right!  I had a wonderful "12 days of Christmas" plan for getting the house ready by December 25.  (I decided not to post it because I knew I couldn't really do it!)  I have been busy, but by December 23, we were still pretty much a wreck!  I wanted to do a really good, thorough job before Christmas so that after Christmas we could relax and do fun things like spend Mom's 85th birthday with her, go to the Science Center, have friends over and visit friends.  Have a sledding party... the list goes on and on!

On Thursday, Joseph complained of a headache.  He later had a fever of 101.  By evening I had decided maybe it is sinus infection?  In the night he had vomited a couple times, I'm sure its just from all that conjestion. 

Christmas Eve morning I called the doctor and got a script for antibiotic.  He will be fine by tomorrow.  I will just keep plugging away.  Today was to day to make goodies!  Yeah!!  But he didn't stop puking.  All day, he couldn't keep anything down.  In my denial state, I kept making goodies, planning on having everyone come the next day.  By evening, I had to call the relatives.  They actually weren't too concerned about it and said they would still come, depending on how he was in the morning.  By morning he was the same.  Poor kid!  He didn't even want to open presents with everyone else on Christmas Eve!  He wanted everyone else to, and wanted to watch them, but had NO interest in his own presents!  Wow!  That is sick.  So I am handing out presents with teary eyes.  That night was the same, vomiting.

Christmas morning, I was so sad to find out he was still sick!  Sicker and weaker than ever! Couldn't even keep water down!  Oh, my poor baby!  What an awful Christmas for him! *TEARS*  Since we weren't having all that company, I sort-of shut down.  I went back to bed.  Though I didn't sleep, it sure felt good!  I had been getting 6-7 hours or sometimes less all week.  Staying up late working on stuff.  Getting up early working on stuff.  I was worn out!  I moved to the couch and laid around watching movies all morning, drifting off here and there.  I finally got my shower at 1:30 and started lunch at about 2:30!  Tyler and his girlfriend Mandie came.  We had the lasagna dinner as planned for the Zander Christmas, and watched more movies.  (We watched movies all day Friday and Saturday!)  We had a nice time playing Monopoly and Sequence. (Girls against boys- girls WON at Sequence!)  By this time Joe is actually wanting Chocolate milk.  He had asked for some soup earlier but never ate it.  The only chocolate milk I had was some Swiss Miss packets so I made it then put ice cubes in, he liked it.

Today, Sunday, I stayed home with him and he is very chatty, "Mommy" this and "Mommy" that.  I made him take a bath. (Though he NEVER needs one!)  Again, watching a lot of movies, but from an upright position this time.  He had more chocolate milk and guzzled some lemon water.  He isn't hungry, but is working hard on hydration.  Praise the Lord!!!  He has lost some weight, he looked anorexic when I helped him out of the tub.  He still has dark circles under his eyes, his whole face has unusual coloring.  But I am so happy to hear him talk and ask for things! 

Sigh... what we mothers go through when our little ones are sick.  It just does something to a mother's heartstrings.  I prayed and prayed over him.  Why is it any little illness makes me think they are going to die?  I think of the olden days when any fever meant the possibility of death and many families often lost more children than survived.  How heartbreaking that must have been.  My heart goes out to anyone who has lost children... of any age.

Dogs Update

Remember when Daddy said "NO" to the dogs?  Well, since we had fallen in love with them so quickly, we decided to give them some more time, you know, to see if they were going to 'work out'.  They were working out  pretty well!  They are so friendly and loving!  I named the big male "Jack". The female puppy still has several names, as we haven't settled on one yet, it might be "Kate".  They moved into Molly's doghouse which she never uses any more.  They would go in there and cuddle and keep each other warm.  On Wednesday, we were in our school room, which is in the basement with a glass walk-out door and we can see the doghouse from inside.  All of a sudden, Corah said, "Mom, Jack just fell!"  Strange, huh?  I went outside to him and he collapsed again... AND DIED!!!  Aaahhhhh!!!!  Needless to say, our school day ended right then and there!  We spent the rest of the day mourning the dog we had known for a whole 6 days.  I was afraid he would get frozen to the ground and be there until spring so I threw the dog blanket over him, also, so we didn't have to look at him!  Dallas was very busy when he got off work that day and could not "take care of" the body, so he was still there Thursday when we tried to do school.  Yuck.  Thursday evening he "took care of it."   (But there is a melted spot in the snow in the shape of the dog!)

We feel so bad we couldn't have done something to help poor Jack.  He was so thin.  I thought he was starving and Dallas thought he was sick.  I guess he was right.  We decided he died happy because he had a family to love him once again.  He was trying to come and be with us because he knew he was dying.  Poor Jack.  Rest in Peace!
This is Peter and Jack notice his ribs showing.  This picture is a perfect example of what a people lover he was.  This was taken last Friday, the first day he came!

 Puppy (Kate?)

What is that noise? .... Dallas is home early today!  YIPPEEEE!!!

Family Fun Weekend!

Friday night we headed to Osceola to my sister Becky's for the annual family hunting weekend.  I had originally planned to go down Saturday, but I am so glad the kids' excitement pursuaded me to go down Friday night because we woke up to ice-covered roads and I never would have risked that! 

Saturday the guys headed out to the farm where I grew up at about 6:30 (after waking up every single one of my kids!).  We all got up around 8, had breakfast and spent the day playing with my nephew Nathan's kids (Archer 6, Riley 4, Lawson 8 months).  The boys were warriors, running around the house, shirtless, with guns and making a lot of noise.  Mary & Riley had plenty of "babies" to take care of, including strollers, a rocking chair and a high chair!  Leah was busy exploring the three floor of Aunt Becky's house.  More than once I lost that girl!  She could get from the basement to the second story before I noticed she was missing!  Grandma & Grandpa came for lunch and to see all those grandkids, too.  While the guys were hunting and the kids were playing and I finally caught Leah and got her to fall asleep on me, Jen (nephew Nathan's wife) made candy with their daughter Riley, and Becky.   The guys shot four deer and came home drinched with sweat (even though the temperature was in the teens) and stories of their adventures.  Finally, my nephew Landry, his friend he brought, and Nathan's family headed up to Nathan's to butcher deer.  Brave souls, it was a white-out that night.  We stayed nice and toasty warm in Becky & Marty's basement, surrounded by our beautiful children by the warm glow of the corn-burner.  Ahhh!

Sunday, churches were cancelled.  After breakfast in the basement and coffee upstairs with Becky, we had our own little worship service.  The children prayed, Dallas read the first 4 chapters of Matthew and we sang Christmas carols.  It was nice!  We had a relaxing day.  So relaxing we didn't want to go out into the cold to visit Grandma & Grandpa and go home!  Finally at about 4:00, Landry came back, he and Dallas headed back for the woods, and the kids and I went over to G & G's before heading home.  It was 9* when we got to their house and 4* when we got home! 

No pictures, I forgot my camera in the van.  Besides, things seemed to move so quickly, I wouldn't have remembered to take pictures, anyway!

It was such a great weekend.  It is so relaxing to just get away every now and then.  Visiting family is such a rare thing these past few years, it seems.  I miss my farm.  Everyone would come to our house, and sleep in the extra beds in the basement and spare bedroom.  We would eat ice cream for supper on Saturday night and Mom would make roast beef for Sunday dinner.  You could look out any window in the house and see our land.  Dallas comes home and tells me about the changes that have been made and it makes me cry.  I really wanted to buy it from Dad, but Dallas didn't think I could farm it myself since he is gone so much.... hmmm I wonder why?

Well, that was my weekend.  The long, boring, drawn-out version!