cleaning

A Week With No Kids: Day One and Two {Thoughts From Me}

July 28, 2014 by Dana

In an impromptu effort to encourage family relationships with my children, I have allowed them to travel with their Grandmother to Florida to visit their uncle (my brother) and his family. Anyone that knows me knows that this is totally out of character for me, as I rarely let my kids go anywhere that I am not, much less 2 states away from me. It was a last minute decision that I can honestly say I am pleased has happened though I miss my kids very much – I’m sure they are not-so-much missing Mommy with all the Florida fun and sun though.

It all started last year when Emma asked could they go with Grandma to Florida in which I replied no but she was so sad and so disheartened that it saddened me. So this year when time for the trip came, I first said “no” but at the last minute I changed my mind and told them they could go. I was looking forward to alone time with the kids per my original “no, you aren’t going” but I know they want to see their uncle and cousins who they rarely see due to the distance in living. Needless to say the kids couldn’t be happier!

So the weekend was spent washing up clothing, packing and gathering necessary items to send them on their way. We gassed up the Tahoe and filled it up with loads of things to keep them occupied on the overly long trip. Then early Sunday morning, we sent the four plus Grandma on their merry way. They stopped off and picked up their cousin Megan to go along on their travels too. Grandma gets a week with all seven of her Grandkids at one time! Whoo Hoo!

With the kids gone, that leaves me as a Mommy with no one to parent. You’d think I’d be living it up, enjoying this vacation that so many long for every day. Nope – I miss those four beautiful kids desperately in just the few hours they’ve been gone and have been keeping busy so that I don’t miss them more.

After the kids left yesterday, the Bestie (Tamara) and I all loaded up in Mom’s car since she has my car and went down to the beach for the first time in forever – definitely the first time this year but maybe the first time in 3 years. We sat in the edge of the water and played for several hours like young children would. It was wonderful and so relaxing.

By the time I left the beach, the day was almost over and I felt as though I’d had a relaxing massage from the beating of the waves hitting me as they washed upon the shoreline. Tamara and I also gathered some pretty shells while we were there. The whole day was just what I needed to keep my mind off of the kids being gone.

After the beach, we grabbed some Subway Subs and headed home. The rest of the night we sat around watching TV, catching up on missed episodes of our favorite shows. It was 4:30 in the morning before we finally went to sleep.

Today I woke up around 11. It was nice to sleep in. I immediately ate something and started on laundry. I cleaned up the living room and put all the out of place things away. I headed over to Grandma’s and did the laundry there as well. Just basic housecleaning that needed to get done.

I also had a wonderful surprise. The books I had ordered from my dear homeschooling friend Carole, had been delivered! The overstuffed large box was waiting for me on the porch. It was filled with books on animals, great readers, science educational stuff and more. Carole’s books are always the best! I can’t wait for the kids to return and find so many new, interesting things to read!

It’s now 7:30 in the afternoon. For the rest of the night, I will be working on pictures that I have been putting off. Tomorrow brings a new day and I will be working on more things around the house. You’d think this was a vacation from the kids but really it’s just catching up on all the things I am not able to get done when they are home with me. Lots of work that needs done while they are off having fun.

A quick June Update {Thoughts From Me}

June 12, 2014 by Dana

I keep telling myself that I am going to come up with a better system for blogging and an idea for weekly posts yet that doesn’t happen. So hear I am again, giving a blog update very quickly because our busy life is consumed with living and not with writing at this time. Maybe one day the writing will come but for now I’m content to simply live life.

At this point, I’m back to the house overhaul. My birthday is coming up and all I can keep thinking is how I want this or that for the house – not a lot for me, myself. I’d love to put in new bookshelves that are sturdier than the ones we are currently using, made of real wood to hold the weight of all the books we own. Heck, I’d love to buy a building just to house my books! That’s a dream in itself!

Speaking of the shelves, my current cleaning is to catalog all the books so that I know what I’m using. I’m doing this with both Classroom Organizer online which I can use with the laptop or my phone to scan in ISBN numbers. I’m also using my BookCrawler app so these are stored in two separate places and maybe I can keep up a little easier with what we do and don’t have already. I’m pretty good though as only a few multiples have made it into our home library!

For now, we have a break in doctor’s appointments for the kids and my Mom. This small break will be devoted to cleaning and clearing junk in the house and our lives and also to school, field trips and lessons that must be completed. Yet, another reason our days are busy and full right now. When it’s too hot or too cold to be outside, we do school! Oh the perks of living in ole South Carolina!

So that is my update for now, for lack of an idea of anything else to post today. Perhaps my brain will regain function after I get some of this mess organized.

Until next time…

Fall Cleaning {Thoughts From Me}

September 26, 2013 by Dana

I am an opposite person. I don’t nest before babies come. I nest afterwards, in the year after baby is born. I don’t Spring clean. Instead, I Fall clean. It’s just how the world works for me.

So, as you can guess, with the changing of the leaves, my house has been my main focus lately. I’ve been going through kids clothes, changing from Summer to Winter. I’ve been working through clutter, passing on things that are no longer needed in our home. I’ve been going through school things, finding permanent places for things I’ve been putting off.

This week alone I have sorted clothing, pulled weeds that were growing outrageously around our house, straightened drawers, cleaned kitchen counter tops, made my sink shine and the list goes on. It feels so good to finally have my home falling into place.

With all that has been going on in our family, I feel the need to find a place for everything and put everything into it’s place. It’s a process but it’s getting there and nothing feels better to have a neat, clean area to come home to.

I need to sit down and set forth goals for completion of my cleaning plan. I also need to set up school work, as with Jackson finally having control, we now have more time for school again. I also need to work on blogging plans because, well frankly, I’m always out of ideas on what I need to write about on here. A plan would help that tremendously, as would returning my laptop to a permanent place near my review items so I can work easier.

For the next few weeks, I know I will be catching up on those things I am behind on. I will be planning things throughout our life, moving forward as best I can. For now, I will do all I can manage and that’s all I can do.

September Update: Just a post of where we are! {Thoughts From Me}

September 19, 2013 by Dana

I haven’t been blogging much this month. I’ve actually been enjoying a little time off. The weather is gorgeous and it’s inspired me to do a little Fall cleaning around my house. By the time I wrap up my daily to-do’s around the house, I’m really too tired to be inspired to do much online past my reviews and a quick check-in.

Last year, when I as pregnant, I wasn’t into housekeeping much so the house is a real disaster but that’s ok! It’s only one season of our life and it passes so quickly. Then there is the demand of keeping up with a baby, and his siblings – readjusting schedules, homeschooling through and watching him and them learn and grow. It doesn’t allot for a lot of homekeeping time there either.

Add in the baby having reflux, food allergies and Epilepsy on top of it and my time diminishes even more. Now that he’s a year old, and his reflux, food allergies and Epilepsy are somewhat under control leaves me time to catch up on the things I’ve been putting off.

Last week, I emptied an entire box that’s just been piling in my house for four years. This box was full of my paints, my brushes and anything else related to my hand-painting crafts. This hobby of mine was sadly neglected and not organized at all but now all those paints are stored behind my bedroom door in an over the door shoe organizer and it works for now. I can see the bright colors which I attempted to sort them into. I still don’t have a permanent home for the brushes but small steps will get me there. I want a rolling drawer cart in the classroom so they will either go there or in my cubbies under my kitchen table where I now store my hobby items and review things.

This week, I’ve been catching up on work that should have been completed months ago but couldn’t be since Jackson was sick. I’ve also been going through clothes from the building that have piled up. I missed two whole boxes of 6-9 months clothing for Jackson because I didn’t have time to get out there while he was sick. Those will now be sold to buy him new clothes in his size, which adds another thing to my must get done list.

I’ve also be reorganizing things throughout the house to make it better work for us and printing things in prep for school lessons. I just purchased a great set of Eeboo All Around the World Alphabet Wall Cards second hand from Sam @ Sam’s Noggin. I plan to use them with Laycie this year. I know she’s really going to love those!

We also have our set of Touch Math that we will continue to work through with Laycie this year. She really loves the hands on uniqueness of this program. It really works well for her. She will also continue to use her Logic of English curriculum that we reviewed last week. Another program that she really loves!

For the next few weeks, I plan to clean, clean, clean and organize, organize, organize! I will do my best to update when I can. I have a few plans for the blog, too, that I can hardly wait to put to work.

But for now it’s just going to have to wait.

3/26/2011 Update

March 27, 2011 by Dana

Life has been keeping me busy. The kids and I have been cleaning out the girls room. They have bagged up a TON of stuff for me to sort through. We are on a mission to clean and reorganize the whole house, to make it work better for us.

The dishwasher is still working well. We’ve had a set back or two with the plumbing under the sink but I think we finally have it straightened out. It’s such a wonderful thing to be able to go into the kitchen and cook without having to worry with dishes everyday. Thanks to the help of the dishwasher I’ve been able to begin meal planning again.

I’m finding my iPad to be more of a blessing every day too. I’m able to put my list into my Cozi app on my iPad, take it with me to the store and check off the list as I gather my purchases. It’s a really great organizational tool, though I’m still learning to use it.

The kids are enjoying playing on the iPad too. Emmalee loves the Barbie apps available and Winston enjoys the Lego apps. Even Laycie enjoys “pretending” to play and watching YouTube and Netflix videos of her favorite Pre-k “friends”.

I have our new curriculum planned and ready to start on Monday. The kids are excited and so am I. I know they are going to enjoy it all too and I can hardly wait! Such a wonderful thing to share knowledge and God’s Word with my children every day.

So that’s what we are up to these days. I’m hoping to shoot some new photos of the kids and hopefully manage to get a new header for our blog. This week will be busy with school, nature walks and lots of housekeeping. Hopefully, it won’t keep us too busy to enjoy Luv’N Lambert Life!

Update on us {Christmas Prep 2010}

December 20, 2010 by Dana

Life has been pretty busy lately.

The kids spent a week with their Aunt and cousin at the beginning of the month for their cousin’s birthday. They had a blast and got pretty spoiled with love while they were there.

Last week my best guy friend came to stay and help me clean out house. He was a HUGE help. The usual chaos is now tame again. It was super awesome to have someone get up with the kids, vacuum, dust, straighten and do the dishes before I managed to crawl my butt out of the bed every day. My house feels so much calmer now that the chaos has diminished and I cannot wait to get what’s left completed so that it feels all the better! I have to say a HUGE HUGE thanks to my buddy for being generous enough to take a week out of his life to help me out! Thanks Bro!!

Now we are waiting for Mama to come (my Mom). She’ll be here til January loving on the babies. They are sooo excited too. Everyday they ask when she will arrive. Tomorrow night is the Big Day. Emma was up late because she knows I talk to Mama late and she needed the reassurance that Mama would be coming to see her sweet self soon. Now she’s thrilled and sound asleep ready for tomorrow to get here.

Today I finally put our tree together and layered it in lights. 1100 lights to be exact. It’s a glowing beauty. I prefer an artificial tree because it’s less mess to clean up when I put it away. I prefer colored lights to white. To me the candy like glow equals Christmas. Can’t beat it! Tomorrow I am doing some other decorating in the house and Tuesday we will decorate the tree with Mama’s help. The kids are sooo looking forward to that!

We finished up the Christmas shopping yesterday too. I had a few last minute items I ordered. I’m hoping everything comes in on time. Next year I hope to have everything done much earlier than this year.

The rest of the week will be a busy one, filled with family, baking, decorating, present wrapping and gifting. It goes quickly by and can be extremely tiring but is so very worth it. Three days after Christmas brings the JOY of my baby boy’s 10th birthday. I can hardly believe he’s almost 10. It seems like just yesterday that I delivered him so close to the day we celebrate Jesus’ own birth.

I’m praying everyone has a wonderful and blessed Christmas weekend. I pray God blesses each of you and you have all the joy your heart wishes for this Christmas season.

Until next time…