A Week in Words - 03/02 ...

Life This Week- 

I haven't done one of these posts in almost a year. But I like them. It's a nice little way to sum up our week, let you in on some of our craziness and oh how I love coming back to these later on to read. With that said, hope you enjoy this glimpse into our week ... 

This week we started a new schedule. And when I say schedule, I mean every minute of every day is scheduled. Right down to shower times. Something like this has been needed for a long time, I just never sat down to do it - to figure it all out - to type it all up. And I knew going into something so different than what we are used to would be hard in the beginning. This week was a trial run of it all. And by the end of Friday, my house was clean, all of our planned school work was done, the dog had been fed 5 days in a row and I still had my sanity. Needless to say, I think it's going to work out well.

We had to hit up Dr. Pott's office on Thursday to check on my sweet Klo. She started running a fever on Monday, no other symptoms, just a fever. I noticed her ears seemed to be sensitive so I was thinking she had an ear infection. By the time we got to the doctor Thursday, her fever was gone and she was back to her old smiley self. Must've just been a virus, something that needed to run it's course. It has been so great to see her smiles again!

And since Little Miss was feeling better, we headed over to my friend's house to play dress up again and take some more sweet pictures. Want to see one? Check out my Favorite Snap down there at the bottom. 

And by the way. When you can't find your baby, check your oldest ones room. I walked in to get Klo up from her nap on Friday and she was gone. I go into Kollin's room and find this sweet sight. The two of them on his bed, him talking all about his baseball cards and sharing them with her. 

This week I also got some one on one time with Kollin. This is another thing I am loving about our new schedules, we have added in one on one time with Kollin, Kolt and Kruz throughout the month. I took Kollin to karate this week, by myself, which never happens. And we shared some cheese dip at Mexican and talked. It was nice. So nice. And I taught him one of my inner kid secrets: the one where you scrunch up the straw paper really tight, drip water on it and watch it grow. Anybody else remember that one? Well he was pretty impressed. 

Our family got bigger this week too! We added a new cousin, sweet Baby Brooks to the crazy bunch! Isn't he a doll?

School This Week - 

This week we started our newest box of Mother Goose Time and are blasting off into space! Last month was so off for us and we missed a ton of Mother Goose Time. And by missed I mean we didn't get to do very many of the activities and we missed it. Like a lot. So this month we are learning about space, which can really be exciting for all age groups. I love to see Kollin and Kolt be able to learn as much with Kruz and Kohen on the same theme. We started the week off by opening our Balancing Moon, which has been entertainment in our house for hours this week! If you have tots and preschoolers, you need one of these things! Seriously. We made our stars, which was a favorite project from this week. 

Two things here. Number one: I love to see Kruz still wearing his Christmas PJs. And number two: Glitter will be the death of me. 

Along with a new Mother Goose Time theme, came moving onto our next PACE Math Book. This curriculum was new for us this year and we are loving it! I think we have found a favorite!

Outings - 

We finally had some nicer weather this week, so we hit up the park on Friday for Family Day! A little muddy from the rain earlier in the week, but this Momma survived! We topped off our Friday afternoon with some potato soup from O'Charley's - one of my favorites!

I love to see the husband with a kid on each side. 

Conversation Of The Week - 

Kollin: Mommy. Daddy says whatever I am now, is what I will become. Does that mean I'm going to jail when I get older?!?

Mommy: ...

Favorite Snap - 

The Funkiest of the Funks ...

If you read any of my posts during my first trimester, you know it was a tad rough. Okay, more than a tad. It was catastrophic some days and me getting up to pee was my one and only activity.

 It seems as though those ten weeks slumped me down into a funk. A deep one. One that it was three days at some point before I realized, hey maybe I should take a shower. Don't judge me. I kept my teeth brushed. Most days anyway. My diet consisted of cheese and ice cream and outings were unheard of. My small window of time I had for my Good Lord and my devotion became a time to slide under the covers a little longer and just pray I didn't barf that day. My children were surviving on cereal and Pizza Hut. Not to mention their longing for "just some clean socks" (words from Kollin). In the words of my mother, I'd become a hermit. 

That was December and January. It's March now people and I finally feel like slowly, but surely, I am pulling myself out of this funk.

I started getting up much earlier than usual, whether the boys are up or not. And showering first thing every morning. And putting on fresh clothes. Clothes, not pajama pants and a t-shirt. 

We moved school from the couch back to the kitchen table or school room, depending on the activities for the day. I feel like we are finally getting back onto a good schedule, which makes me feel like I've conquered the world - or at least homeschooling. 

I started the chore planner, Motivated Moms. I recently wrote a review for them if you want to check it out. Having a sensible list that works that I can check off each and everyday has been blissful. It's been keeping me on task and has pushed me to do some real Spring cleaning. A cleaned out pantry, fridge and cabinets can be seriously liberating. 

I started dating my husband again. It seems like all we've had time for each night we can get away is just dinner. And that just dinner is so incredibly good for my soul. Seeing him, talking to him - bliss. It's so, so, so nice.  

I brought reading back into my life! Reading is such a great way for me to escape and for a couple months there, I had dropped the books and was watching way too much TV. I am no "TV is the devil" kind of person, but I was sucked into Switched At Birth, Sister Wives, Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Clean House and even Teen Mom. Oh Lord, I can't believe I just admitted that. Teen Mom? I pretty much forced myself to quit turning on the TV so much and to pick up my Kindle more. I just finished up our Book Club pick this month, Orphan Train. It feels great to be reading again. 

I started hanging out with my friends again. No longer a hermit! I guess my first real outing with a group was to Noah's Ark a couple weeks ago. Hence all the random pictures in this post. I even texted my friend afterward and mentioned how rejuvenating it was to be out and laughing and talking about Mommy moments. And to get some sunshine in my life. 

I started talking again to my Good Lord every morning. Travis got me this great Homeschool Moms Bible for Christmas and the devotions are wonderful! And fit my life just perfect most mornings. I'm rebuilding this deep connection again with Him and this relationship that pretty much makes or breaks my roles as a Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister and Friend.  For so long I desired Him, His Presence, His Comfort and His Guidance. I sort of lost sight of that. And now I'm heading back there. Back to strengthening that relationship, that communication. 

I kicked my horrible Coke addiction and replaced those with water and a Spark from Advocare every day. Talk about rejuvenation. I feel so much better and so much more energized!

I'm getting there. A little at a time. And it feels good to not just be normal again, but to be working on a better Me. 

P.S. Yep - I had an extra kid that day. This is Kollin's longtime pal, Landen.

TOS Review - Motivated Moms

What is Motivated Moms?

Motivated Moms was originally started by two Moms, Deann Polanco and Janet Russell, several years ago as a way to offer other Moms the perfect planning tool to keep a clean home without going crazy in the process. After life changes for both Janet and then Deann, the reigns were handed off to Susan Cramer who is still running the company today. Susan continues on the legacy of offering Moms a great way to keep their homes in order with this wonderful chore planning system.

Originally, Motivated Moms was only offered in a traditional book format. Now we are given two great options to choose from, an app or printable EBook. 

The app is for iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch and Android ($1.99 for the first two months and $0.99 for each additional month or $7.99 for the entire year).

 The EBook format (8.00) can be downloaded and printed. The EBook is offered in eight versions to ensure each Mom gets exactly what she needs. Motivated Moms has truly thought of all different ways to offer the EBook, in color or black and white, with or without encouraged Bible Reading, one day per page or one week per page, half size pages or full size pages. Depending on the layout you choose, there are also extras like a place for your meal planning and spots to add activities. To see all of these unique chore planning options in more depth, please click here. 

On the chore planner, most of the cleaning is done Monday through Friday, leaving Saturdays and Sundays to simple tasks like 'Water the house plants' and 'Clip and organize coupons'. Motivated Moms does not forget the down time either we Moms deserve. On the planner are times for pampering yourself, doing a craft or having fun with a hobby. 

What I Received and How I Used It:

I received the opportunity to review an EBook version of the Motivated Moms chore planning system. I was a bit overwhelmed when I sat down to choose which one I liked best and whereas, the color options were more appealing to me the logical woman in me said not to waste the color ink. I chose the 2014 Motivated Moms Half-Size Chore Planner with Scheduled Bible Reading {Black and White}.

Over the course of six weeks, I used this planner to delegate all of my housework and other tasks like, 'clip the children's nails'. Yep, that's on there and to be honest, I need that reminder. The first week or so was a little rough and I struggled with getting the hang of doing a little at a time. The point is though, for this housework thing to be stress free and once I saw it all coming together, I was elated and oh so ready to make this chore planner a habit. When I came to tasks like 'Clean off the top shelf of the refrigerator' I did not want to leave the rest of it dirty. So I ended up cleaning it out at it's entirety. I know the point of this planner is to do a little at a time, but it was great in the next few days to be able to check off the other tasks like 'Clean middle shelf of the refrigerator' and 'Clean bottom shelf of the refrigerator'. 

Here are a few shots of some of my progress: 

Confession: We've lived in this home for three years and I've never cleaned the oven. It felt pretty good, I must say.

  

What I Thought About It All:

Let me admit this first: I am the Momma who looks at the big picture of housework. And doing that, I in turn hyperventilate often. This is me: I go to the kitchen to tidy it up, see a dirty sock on the floor, go to toss it in the laundry room which in turn leads me to noticing just how much laundry has piled up, which reminds me to go check in the rooms for all the other dirty clothes, which in turn leads me to all the messes in every room - me.hyperventilating. Maybe a little exaggerated (not really), you get the picture. I struggle with the concept of "a little bit everyday". Using my Motivated Moms Chore Planner pretty much forced me to be the opposite of me - and it worked. 

At first, I was a little apprehensive - because what did I do? Looked through the whole dang planner and saw all that I was expected to accomplish. 

Deep breaths Kelsey, deep breaths. 

With a little hesitation that this would actually work for me, I punched holes in the printed papers and into a notebook it went. A cute one, I might add. It gives me more umph to get the jobs done. 

When I started, I noticed the majority of the daily chores I already did at some point in the day. Some of them, like wiping down the kitchen, I do several times a day. Then there were others like "Make the Beds" that I did not do. Did you know it takes me less than 10 minutes to make my bed and the boys' beds? Who knew! I know it sounds crazy, but coming into a room with a bed all nice and neat made me breath a little easier seeing all the toys in the floor. Making our beds has now become habit, I'm telling you - it's a wonderful thing. 

I love this chore planner and highly recommend it to all the Moms I know: working in or out of the home, homeschooling or not. This planner can be beneficial to our home, our children and our sanity. 

Important Information:

Website: www.motivatedmoms.com
Price for App: $1.99 for two months, with $0.99 for each additional month or $7.99 for the entire year
Price for EBook of your choice: $8.00
Follow Motivated Moms on Twitter.

Like Motivated Moms on Facebook.