The Lieber Family Love List {#TuesdayTen}

Love is in the air! We made Henry's Valentine cards over the weekend. I was informed by Frances that she doesn't need them. Or isn't supposed to have them. She's not sure. So, obviously neither am I. I'm not sure if I'm ready for the end of such childish things. I mean, making Valentines is always a bit of a pain in the rear, but it's also fun and a good excuse to sit down with the kids and see where they stand in the classroom.

In honor of the upcoming holiday, we are each making a LOVE LIST for #TuesdayTen. I could think long and hard about ten things I love, or I could just wing it and list the first ten things that come to mind. Guess which route I chose!

1. Socks! Have I mentioned that before?
2. Camisoles. AKA camis. I love them. I wear one almost every day. I was having serious withdrawal issues when the washer broke and I had to go without!
3. Speaking of...my new washer! We ended up splurging a little bit because we knew our tax refund was coming. We got a great deal on a new Whirlpool!
4. So obviously, I also love tax refunds! I know some people (*cough* my dad) refer to them as an interest free loan to the government, but I look at them as surprise money we would have frittered away if it had come in little by little.
5. I also love jewelry. Namely, I've become obsessed with Premier and having jewelry parties. I've even looked into selling it myself, but I just haven't taken the leap yet.
6. Books! That's not a surprise to anyone, I'm sure. When the washer was broken and I didn't have a way to go through the nightly cycle of swapping loads, I got back into my reading habit with a vengeance. 
7. Spreadsheets-I know, that probably makes me a nerd. I'm okay with that. I have a spreadsheet that keeps track of my childcare expenses. I have another that keeps track of how many steps I've taken per day, with weekly averages and color coding. I even have some that I created for work!
8. My new Zumba videos! I bought them off someone on Facebook. There are a variety of workouts. I find that I can do a 20 minute one during the week and splurge on a 45-50 minute one on the weekends. Frances has even joined in!
9. Fishies! There has been a steep learning curve with these fishies. We've lost three, but the other five seem to be doing well. We've gotten the ammonia under control and I'm waiting to make sure it's steady before we add in any others. Unfortunately, all three fish that we lost were Ben's and he's been sad about them.
10. Little tiny notebooks. It has recently come to my attention that sometimes it gets hard to be heard in a family with three kids all vying for mom's attention. I started a little tiny notebook for Henry and put it in his sock drawer. I can write him little notes and invite him into conversation with me. So far, he's written me a few smiley faces, a couple of "I love yous!" and some short sentences about life. I'm starting one for Frances too, and I'm hoping we can open up some easier lines of communication this way.

What are you in love with lately?

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Come link up again next Tuesday, February 17th, when the topic will be My Way Day: 10 Things I'd Change if I had my Way.

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My First Vlog: On Why I Don't Vlog

This year seems to be the year that I am stepping outside my comfort zone and doing things I've never done before.  I've set up a meeting and pitched a large fundraising idea to someone I'd never met before.  I've volunteered to sit on a panel to discuss a topic near and dear to my heart. And today I am inviting all of you over for a peek at my house.  I've made a vlog!  Not to be confused with blogging, vlogging is a term that indicates a video web log.  Also, don't get it mixed up with clogging or flogging as autocorrect tends to do:

My friend Lydia vlogs.  She has this great music in her videos. It makes the kids come running.  Henry thinks it's hysterical and he always wants me to keep playing it.  Jennifer vlogs too.  She's got some great tips for vlogging here.  Those tips helped inspire me to try this out and see what happens.

So here it goes. Let me know what you think! But be gentle.  And no comments about the laundry...I'm looking at you MOM!
Please tell me I'm not the only one to decorate with clean laundry!

If you Ask a Mom to Bake Brownies

This post may or may not be based on actual events...that happened to someone else...

If you ask a mom to bake brownies, she will gladly accept, because...umm...brownies!

She will turn the oven on to pre-heat and miraculously remember to check inside to see if any pans are drying inside.

She'll put away the pans she washed two weeks ago and forgot about.

While she's putting away the pans, she'll re-stack all the cookie sheets that keep falling over.

Seeing the cookie sheets will remind her that she set out to bake brownies.

She will get the mix out of the cabinet and look for a bowl to mix things in.

While looking for the bowl, she'll realize that it's in the dishwasher.

When she tries to open the dishwasher, she'll notice the groceries she never finished putting away after the last trip to the grocery store.  She'll put those away.

After organizing the cereal and stacking the cans so they don't fall over, she'll remember the brownies and go back to the dishwasher to find a bowl.

As she's opening the dishwasher, she'll step on the wet towel soaking up the leak (and curse the guy who got the address wrong last week and never showed up to look at it).  Seeing the towel will remind her to go run a load of laundry.

She'll gather up the laundry the kids threw in the bathroom and take it downstairs to stick it in the washer.  Of course, that means taking dry clothes out of the dryer and transferring wet ones to the dryer.

She'll take the dry clothes upstairs and sit down on the couch to start folding it.

The *beep beep beep* of the oven will remind her that she preheated it to bake some brownies.

She'll go back to the dishwasher and finally open it to find the bowl.

Once she's got the bowl, she'll mix up the brownies and stick them in the oven.  While the brownies are baking in the oven, she'll go back out to the couch to fold some more laundry.

The incessant beeping of the oven will wake her up and remind her that the brownies are done cooking.

She'll go to the kitchen and grab a glass of milk and cut out a piece of brownie for quality control purposes only.

She'll eat her brownie, drink some milk and fall back asleep folding laundry on the couch.

Ten on Tuesday: Things I Learned From not Having a Washing Machine

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this at all, but a few weeks ago our washing machine broke and we were left without one for quite a bit longer than I would have liked! However, I am the type of person to try and put a positive spin on everything, so in that vein I'd like to present you with:

1. Washing clothes in the bathtub is lots of fun for the kids, but not so much for mom. It also doesn't really get things very clean.
2. A potato masher makes a great agitator when you decide to try washing clothes in the kitchen sink.
   

3. The kitchen sink works much better than the bathtub.
4. Drying racks make attractive living room decor, especially covered with socks and underwear.
5. Laundromats smell much better on the outside than on the inside.
6. We own a lot of clothing!
7. Broken washer + Potty training = Lots of laundry in the sink (see #2...literally!)
8. It only takes two loads in the new washer/dryer before I started finding mulch and rocks inside.
9. Our bathroom is not large enough to hold three weeks worth of laundry and still be able to navigate through, but my new washer is big enough to go through that much laundry in about 5-6 loads!
10. My friends are awesome!

10 on Tuesday: Things in my Washer

I've posted lots before about my love affair with laundry. Truthfully, I don't completely hate it.  Washing, drying, and folding are fine with me.  I just hate putting it away!  And, frankly, that's sad; because my kids put their own laundry away and so does Ken.  I only have mine...and Benjamin's...and the sheets, towels, rags, napkins, tablecloths...see?!  Anyway, laundry is on my mind this morning, so I present to you...

10 Things I've Found in My Washer Lately

1. Clean clothes--technically the only thing I should be finding in my washer.
2. Tissues--standard washer fare, right?
3. Mulch--As I told someone yesterday, I have probably found the equivalent of an entire tree in my washing machine the past few weeks.
4. Mustard Packets--Finally figured this one out! Frances gets them off the condiment bar at school and then eats them.  The mustard, I mean.  As in she sucks the mustard out of the packet and then sticks the packet in her pocket.  We had a conversation about this and she's either stopped eating mustard or she's started throwing the packets in the trash.
5. A Matchbox car--Not sure which son left it in his pocket. 
6. Grocery coupons--I guess I have to claim this one. I must have left them in my pocket after a shopping trip.  Thankfully they were the ones I wouldn't have used.
7. A baseball--I have no clue; don't even ask!!
8. A Hanger--Gives you an idea how well I sort my clothes before I put them in, huh?
9. Foam letter--Our bathtub toys sit right next to the hamper, so I guess it fell in the pile that way.
10. Nothing--That's right!! For one day last week, I was totally caught up on all the laundry. (Only lasted a day though.)

P.S.: Still lovin' my Woolzies in the dryer!!  No static, even with summer heat!

Laundry Left-Overs

I think everyone I know has found some loose change in the washing machine at some point. It's like a little reward for doing laundry! I've found bills a time or two and that's fun as well. I feel certain that I am not alone in adding tissues, grocery lists, and chapstick to my "list of things found in the washer."  However, I have discovered that having kids leads to some very interesting discoveries in the bottom of the washing machine.
First there was the mulch.It threw me off at first because it didn't really look like mulch, if you know what I mean.  I got used to seeing that quite regularly because the playground at the kids' preschool was covered in mulch.  It came home attached to the kids clothes and socks, but more often than not, it was stuck in their pockets.
I also find rocks. Lots of them since Benjamin decided to start a collection.  To tell the truth, the washing machine isn't the only place I find rocks (the car seat, the van in general, the bathtub, his crib...).  That boy cannot pass a rock garden or gravel pit without filling his pockets!!
I find stickers. Those are frustrating because if you don't catch them before the dryer, that gook gets heated up and sticks to your clothes forever!  I try to look for stickers before things go in the wash, but I am not always successful.
Toys are another common find in our washing machine.  Polly pockets, Matchbox cars, Batman figurines; if it fits in a pocket, it has probably been washed.
I found an earring in the washing machine last week.  That makes me sad, because I only found one and I don't know where the match is. And I liked those earrings.
Yesterday I thought it was strange because I found a plastic heart-shaped magnet in the washer. I had a hard time getting that out because it kept slipping out of my fingers and sticking to the inside of the drum.
I thought Ken's discovery this morning would take the cake! The strangest thing we've found in our washer so far were the two packets of mustard he found.  He brought them up and commented, "I thought we were trying to remove mustard stains in the washer...not create them!" I know they didn't come from me or from Ken. I am going to assume that Frances had them in her pocket from a lunch at camp at some point. Probably yesterday's hot dogs.
You are probably thinking that I should check pockets before I wash clothes.  That would be a great idea!! NOT! I don't even sort laundry anymore! I used to sort it all the time: whites, darks, dress clothes, sheets and towels, etc.  And I had laundry piled everywhere! I would wash one or two loads a day and get close to being finished. Then I would look at the piles and none of them would be quite enough for a full load, so I would skip a day. And then just like hangers, or bunnies, or pens in the bottom of your purse; the laundry piles would multiply exponentially overnight! So I started throwing loads in together. And nothing came out looking horrible. Then I just stopped sorting it at all.  I take the laundry down to the basement and pile it in front of the washer. When I switch loads, I pick up a few handfuls and throw them all in together. Works for me!  Except for all the strange stuff I keep finding in the washer.
But I've never found anything as strange as this

and until I do, I'm not going to sort my laundry or check my pockets. (Click that picture for the full story.)

So, what's the strangest thing you've found in your washing machine??

From the Back Seat

As I drive home in the evenings, I usually try to prepare the kids for what we will do when we get home.  Usually I do this to preempt the "Can we watch TV?" discussion that I know will be coming.  Typically I tell the kids what their chores will be and remind them about putting shoes and coats away. It is never a long conversation, but there are often groans when the assigned chores are announced.  This is one of my favorite recent conversations:

Me: Tonight when we get home, Frances and Henry, you both have clothes to put away.

Henry (shouting): WHY DO WE ALWAYS HAVE CHORES?!?!

Me (after a brief time of reflection):  Well, chores are important for you to learn how to be a responsible person.

Henry (after a brief silence): Oh. I thought they were just boring.

Your Bill is Enclosed

Hey family!! Just a note to let you know that you still owe me! I have washed and dried and folded and put away a ton of laundry this week. It feels great to be getting caught up. And as a teacher I am all about intrinsic motivation, but I still need something more! After all this work, all I found in the washing machine was one, single, solitary, measly, little dime! Ten cents for all that work!!? I protest! You have got to start leaving more change in your pockets. And bills....yeah, bills. I would totally go for some money laundering.

If this keeps up I will totally be in tears. And then I guess all those tissues in the dryer will be of some use to me!

To summarize:

Good things to leave in your pockets: change, bills, gift cards to fancy restaurants.

Bad things to leave in your pockets: tissues, tissues, and tissues.

Buh-Bye Flu

Ken, Henry, and I all got it.  Benjamin and Frances did not.  Not really sure how that happened, but I am thankful that Benjamin did not get sick.  He did end up sleeping a lot during the quarantine week, and that was quite a blessing, but I felt horrible later when I realized that it was because of all the decongestants I had been taking! (I spoke with his doctor today and he said I didn't do any damage, thankfully.)
I also have apparently had a sinus infection before, during, and after the flu.  My head has been feeling like it is going to explode and I have been very cranky.  I went to the doctor this morning and got myself a Z-pack, so relief is in the near future! I am trying not to complain about the stomach ache that the first dose is giving me.  :)
Benjamin had his 9-month checkup today as well.  He is growing well, except he dropped down a little on the weight curve.  His doctor said he is not concerned, as he seem to be eating well and a variety of foods.  I guess I am just destined to have skinny kids!
Currently the bigs are playing Polly Pockets on the table in the living room.  Frances was looking for something in her room after school today and she found some Polly Pockets under her bed.  She came out to tell me that it is summer under her bed and her Polly Pockets would like to go swimming.  Ummm...OK?
So the Polly Pockets are swimming in two plastic containers of water in the living room.  Actually at this point, the table and carpet are taking a bath as well!
And do you like all that clean, folded laundry on the bench behind them??  I should probably get to that sometime today.

Ponderings on Laundering

I have noticed these strange tidbits with every load of laundry that I do. Can anyone explain why:

• No matter how large the basket is, there are only ever 2-3 pieces of my clothes? I wear clothes every day, just like the rest of my family.
• Socks never get into the same load with their mates? I have a whole basket full of socks that need to be matched, but have been orphaned.
• There is always some piece of clothing that I don't recognize? Who is doing all this shopping? Certainly not me.
• There is always a toy in the basket? Today is was a plastic bracelet that I have never seen before (see above).
• I end up with tissues everywhere? I know this is my fault because I am always sticking tissues in my pockets, but after that "Chapstick incident" I always rememeber to check the pockets.
• I am blogging about laundry at 6:30 in the morning?

A Whole Week!

Well, I actually went a whole week without blogging. I didn't set out to neglect my online journal for quite so long, but it was a busy week and things just got away from me. Here's a quick update on what has been happening around here:

• Last Saturday afternoon, we packed up the car and headed to Culpeper to visit Ken's family. His sister, Christie, and her boyfriend, Brian, had flown in from Florida for a visit and we wanted to see them. Ken's brother, Dan, had also come up with his wife, Nikki, and baby daughter, Abby. It was a crowded house! We had a great time visiting with them and Frances got to hold her baby cousin and just LOVED it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures yet because while I did remember my camera; I forgot my memory stick.


• Sunday we spent the day in Culpeper with Ken's family. We tried to go swimming, but Mother Nature had other plans for us. Ken, his dad, his sister, and Brian did get to play golf before the major downpour. We headed back that evening and stopped at Dairy Queen for some ice cream on the way back.


• Monday I was back to work. It was all set to be a crazy day because of all the summer kids being there. I was not disappointed!


• Tuesday I worked at the church. I got quite a bit done in between putting out fires at the Day Care. I managed to get 100 youth registered for religious education classes this year. The bad news, is that is only about half to a third of the ones that were registered last year, so there are a lot more coming.


• Wednesday, I had a fun day planned with Katie. She is going off to college soon *sniff* and we will miss her tremendously. We met for lunch at Burger King. Frances made her a picture frame that says "Frances" and "Henry" on it and we promised to send picture for her to put in it while she is away form home. Then we went to the pool. Frances had fun in the baby pool and Henry "borrowed" an inner tube from another child who wasn't using it and had a great time running around. He did manage to flip himself over in the inner tube, The result was that he floated upside down in the water for a second before I picked him up by the thighs and tried to turn him around. Of course I couldn't get a good grip on him because he was wet and surrounded by an inner tube, so it is quite a good thing that Katie was there to help me out. I aged about 12 years in that instant.


• Thursday I was back at the day care. We took the kids to the Rockingham County Fair. And by "kids" I mean everyone over the age of 2!! We took about 35 kids and various parents on the school bus, church van and Kristen's personal van. We got there and walked through the poultry barn. Then we went to a "Safari Comedy Show" which was rather amusing. After the safari show we ran over to the circus, but we didn't get there in time to get seats, so the kids had to stand. That coupled with the fact that they were hot, tired and hungry means that they mostly grumped during the show. After a pit stop to get some lemonade, we went through the petting zoo and then headed to the park for lunch. It rained while we were there, but no thunder, so we just let the kids play in it. After they were exhausted, we headed back to school. My memory stick wouldn't work, so I borrowed these pictures from Kristen's camera. (Thursday night we went back to the fair as a family.)


• Friday, oh Friday. In retrospect it wasn't actually that bad; but man! did we have some chaos. We had two sick teachers and another with sick kids. We sent a bunch of kids home sick-not fun. And the kids were wild that afternoon! I was ready to pull my hair out-so of course, it rained just enough so we couldn't really go outside. Another one of those days where I can say I earned my weekend!


• Saturday was supposed to be my day off where my wonderful friend Julie was going to kidnap my kids and give me a day to myself!! Apparently Henry got wind of the plan and didn't like i. He threw up three or fours times between 5 and 8 Saturday morning. Never very much, but enough so I couldn't pawn him off on Julie with a clear conscience. But Frances went, so it was just Henry and me home all day. He slept quite a but, ate very little and never threw up again. I slept off and on all day and accomplished nothing of great importance. Oh well, I guess that can be considered a good day.**One exciting thing I forgot...I went to the bathroom and left Henry in the living room with my cell phone. It made a strange beep, but when I came out he had closed it. No big deal, right? Nope, you guessed it-a few minutes later the phone rang, "This is 9-1-1 dispatch. We received a hang up from this number. Do you have an emergency?" Um...no...just a handy 14 month old. OOOPS!!**
  
• Sunday (today) we met Julie at church and retrieved Frances. After Mass I met with some more people who want to get involved with out youth program-AWESOME!! I took care of about 10 more registrations and did a LOT of laundry. Right now there are five baskets that are clean and folded and waiting to be put away. Ken made us dinner and then we went for a walk. No pictures of that because I washed my memory card along with the laundry and apparently that isn't good for them! The new memory card we have is too sophisticated for our camera, so we will have to either upgrade the camera or downgrade the memory card....I'm guessing it will be the card. :(


• Tomorrow starts the last official week of summer for us at the day care. While I will miss my summer class, they and I are all more than ready to move on and get the school year underway.

Thankful Thursdays

This has been a busy week and I have not been taking my laptop to school with me, so this post is a little bit late. I enjoy this chance to think back on my week and pick three things for which I am thankful. This week I am especially thankful for:

• My freedom. This is a wonderful country that I am privileged to live in. We have so many choices that we are allowed to make. Granted, a lot of people make a lot of poor choices, but I would rather that, than to not have choices to make for myself.
• My washer and dryer. I don't particularly enjoy laundry, but it needs to be done. We had a crisis last year right before Henry was born and we didn't have our dryer. I had to hang everything up in the basement. And it was all stiff because we don't use liquid fabric softener and so we didn't have it on hand. We bought a new dryer and use it on a daily basis. I have gotten very close on several occasions to being completely caught up on all the washing, but then someone gets sick or we go out of town. I have a three day weekend coming up and one of my goals is to get everything caught up. Cross your fingers for me!!
• My blog. Some days I get sucked into the Internet and get lost for an hour or two. I enjoy reading other people's blogs and I enjoy posting on my own. I was really grateful this week when I wondered about the specific date that something had happened and I could look it up on my blog. I have never been good about diaries in the past, but this one seems to work for me. It also allows friends and family to keep track of us. It is a great place to post pictures so that everyone can watch our family as it grows.

Thankful Thursdays

I am impressed with myself for actually remembering to do something two weeks in a row!! Yay me! (In my head that sounded like London Tipton, which is really sad. If you get that reference-that's sad too!)



This week I am thankful for:

• Our gorgeous weather. The past few days have been absolutely awesome. Not too hot; not too cold. There has been lots of sun, but a nice breeze also. I was able to spend most of Tuesday outside with my kids from school. Despite a slight sunburn on my leg, it was quite comfortable to sit and watch them play.

• Popsicles. I bought some new ones at the store this week. I decided not to go with the classic orange, grape, and cherry flavors. We always ended up with a box of orange ones that no one really wanted. The ones I bought are citrus punch, tropical punch, mango punch, and kiwi strawberry punch. I like 'em, Frances likes 'em and Henry LOVES 'em. I don't think Ken has had one yet and if he doesn't hurry back from his business trip he may not get the chance!!

• My daughter. Frances is quite the character. Some days I want to walk around with a tape recorder and record everything she says. Of course, she would stop saying funny/profound things if I did so, but I can still wish. Some of my favorites from this week:

F: "I didn't kick her! I pushed her with my foot!"

F: "Mommy, I went in my room and talked to God."

Me:"Really, what did you talk about?"

F: "I told him I was mad at you because you said to get my pajamas. Then I laid on my pillow and cried it all out. Then God made it better!" (BTW, Her face was completely dry when she said this to me, so I'm not so sure about the crying part.)

F: "Mommy, Woody [her imaginary friend] was really bad at school today. He got on red [the "worst bad" color on our behavior chart]."

Me: "Really? What did he do that was so bad?"

F: "He did all the bad kinds of bad stuff. He ate snack outside without a teacher. He threw his cookies on the floor. He was not nice to his friends."

F: "Henry! Get in the boat! You are sinking!!" They were playing in the laundry basket and Henry climbed out.

Almost there!

I cannot believe it, but my baby Henry will be a year old in 4 more days. I spent part of the day at church trying to sum up the year for youth ministry. Then I tried to come home and clean my house for his party this Sunday. The weather had a different idea for my day, so because of the tornado warnings I went and picked up the kids early. Frances never napped today and Henry had a short early afternoon nap, so it was two grumps that I came home with. I got a LOT of laundry done and mostly put away. The living room is actually traversable for the first time in a long time. All in all it was a good day.