Updates

I feel like I have a few loose ends out there that I never followed up on, so I figured I should do one big update post and call it a day.

Back in July, I wrote this post about meal planning.  We followed it faithfully for about 3 months. When soccer and ballet and violin and *life* started getting hectic, things fell apart a little bit.  My main problem was that there were a good number of nights where we weren't all home together to eat.  For example, on Thursdays, Frances has violin and then ballet. She still needs dinner, but she and Ken aren't home during dinner time.  Ken tried making the planned meal ahead of time and taking it with them to eat between activities, but that doesn't work for very many meals.  I think with some more thought it can work again.  I am planning on going back to that system again starting next week and giving it another try.  {While I was typing this very paragraph, this happened:}

See?? We need to get back into this meal planning habit!

I've also posted in the past about cleaning.  I had a system worked out to do one room a night for 30 minutes. The kids didn't love it, but they helped and our house was looking better.  Then the aforementioned busy-ness happened and we let go of that habit too.  We are starting that again tonight!!  I have 6 baskets of CLEAN, FOLDED laundry in my living room right now!!  I need a sister wife who likes grocery shopping, and putting away laundry! Any takers??

 Another thing that has fallen by the wayside lately, has been exercise.  I had been wearing a pedometer and keeping track of my daily steps.  Well, I didn't even know where my pedometer was until I heard a strange clunk as I was putting some stuff in the washing machine last night.  I had apparently left it attached to a pair of pajama pants a few weeks ago. The pajama pants had fallen off the side of the bed next to the wall and been forgotten.  I could go look at my chart and see how long ago I last tracked steps, but I won't. I just know it has been at least 6 weeks!  Ken and I have talked about starting the Couch to 5K program, but neither of us is very motivated to start an outdoor workout routine in December!  This one might have to take a back burner for a while.  (Unless Andrew starts some major smack talk to get me motivated again!)

The one thing I have a good report for is Henry's anger management!  The first few days were hard because he was getting artificially angry in order to go "play" with his new stuff.  On top of that, Frances was jealous because she didn't have a special basket full of stuff.  {I took this as a teachable moment to explain the difference between equal and fair.  Frances didn't appreciate the discussion and she's still a bit miffed that she doesn't get a basket, but i am sticking to my guns on this one.} Anyway, after the initial fun wore off, Henry has been easier to calm when he is upset.  Sometimes he goes into our room and gets out his stuff, but sometimes he just stands in front of you and tenses all his muscles and lets out a huge breath.  The other nice thing is that the basket is portable.  I put it in a bag and took it with us for Thanksgiving. I hid it next to the bed in our room there and he did step away to use it a few times over the break.  I think we are still getting some of the kinks out with this system, but overall I have been pleased with the results and will continue with it.

I feel better having all of that written out.  I am looking forward to getting back into a schedule and a routine.  Hopefully that will make the holidays a little less stressful.  {Is that possible??}